As traffic crawls, commuters spend longer hours on road

New Delhi: Traffic conditions in the city took a turn for the worse after heavy rains on Tuesday. Lengthy traffic

jams

were reported at

ITO

, Minto Road, Pul Prahladpur, Dwarka, Najafgarh, Dhaula Kuan and Vikas Marg, among others.

The other spots where waterlogging was reported were AIIMS, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road in south Delhi, Som Vihar and Ring Road. There was heavy traffic at Bhikaji Cama Place and Azadpur as well.

“I hadn’t expected such a bad situation on the

roads

because it wasn’t raining as heavily when I left home,” said Ashwini Kumar, who regularly commutes on the Dhaula Kuan stretch. “I think the traffic has worsened in the months since the pandemic because I never encountered so many cars on the roads in the pre-Covid era. I was an hour late for work.”

Many others too were late for office, and many of them posted about their plight on social media platforms. Quite a few even sought the help of traffic police. “Though the waterlogging wasn’t as bad, the problem was compounded by people avoiding any part of the road with even the smallest puddle. They drive on this road every day but are circumspect on rainy days,” said an irked commuter on Vikas Marg.

Nikhil reported that some ambulances were stranded on GT Karnal Road because of heavy traffic and police barricades on the stretch from Alipur to Bypass Road.

PWD

officials said only minor waterlogging complaints were reported during the day. However, they conceded that major traffic jams were reported in the city due to rain-affected roads. They argued that this was usually the case during the rainy season and claimed to have been working closely with the traffic police to prevent any mishap on the city roads.

Tanushree, a college student who had her first exam on Tuesday, said she was barely in time for her test. “There was a power cut in Janakpuri, so I was heading to a friend’s house in the Connaught Place area this morning when it suddenly started raining very heavily,” said Tanushree. “I took at least an hour and a half extra than usual to reach the place. Then, I had to start writing my exam as soon as I reached the centre. I was almost exempted from sitting for the test due to the delay caused by the rains.”