Protest at Shaheen Bagh leads to traffic jams in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Traffic in many areas of south east Delhi on Wednesday was either came to a halt or diverted to other routes due to ongoing protest at Shaheen Bagh near Jamia Nagar.

Delhi traffic police issued an advisory to the public on Wednesday to avoid the roads around the Shaheen Bagh area.

Additional Police Commissioner (Traffic), south Delhi, A.K. Singh said: “About 7 to 8 thousand people gathered at the protest site at Shaheen Bagh on Wednesday morning. The protest is going on here for the last 2-3 days. As a precautionary measure, Delhi Traffic Police issued advisory for the general public to avoid the roads around the area.”

“We have stopped the traffic coming from Noida and going towards Kalindi Kunj. This is an exercise to prevent chaos in areas like Delhi’s Sarita Vihar, Mathura Road and Shaheen Bagh,” said Singh.

However, the exercise resulted in chaos in Noida as the commuters had to either take U-turns or look for another short cut to reach Kalindi Kunj due to roadblocks. As a result, there is a massive jam at DND (Delhi-Noida-Direct Flyway) as all traffic converged on the route.

Okhla underpass and a portion of Mathura Road were also closed for traffic movement on Wednesday morning. The Delhi Traffic Police said, “Road No. 13A between Mathura Road and Kalindi Kunj is closed for traffic movement. People coming from Noida are advised to take DND or Akshardham to reach Delhi,” the traffic police tweeted.

The advisory also said that the commuters going to UP’s Noida from Delhi may take the Ashram route through DND.