AI summit brings Delhi to a crawl: 5,000 cops deployed, VVIP movements snarl traffic

NEW DELHI: With several heads of states descending on the capital for the AI summit, traffic management across central Delhi switched into a high-security mode on Wednesday.

Given the sheer scale and sensitivity of VVIP movement and the fact it was a weekday, traffic crawled its way on several stretches, past barricades and intersections that were tightly controlled by police.

The first wave of VVIP movements began in the morning with the arrival of delegates for the summit and continued through the afternoon.

Every arrival impacted the stretches around the airport as the convoys headed to hotels like The Oberoi, The Claridges, Le Meridien, The Imperial, Leela Palace, Taj Palace, Hyatt Regency and The Ashok. National Traffic on National Highway-8 and Dhaula Kuan were severely impacted.



A commuter wrote on social media, "There's heavy traffic towards Terminal 1. Please advise Delhi Traffic Police to deploy (more personnel)." Another posted, "International travel now feels faster than reaching home from the airport. Delhi traffic tests patience more than immigration queues."

While the strictest traffic restrictions were expected later in the day, especially near 6 pm when the delegates were to move to Bharat Mandapam, the venue of the summit, their individual schedules affected traffic earlier as multiple convoys moved to Hyderabad House, AIIMS and other public locations, depending on bilateral meetings and other engagements of the VVIPs. Till 4 pm, at least 40 such ‘movement cycles' had already taken place, according to a source.

Anjali, a commuter, said it was ironic that while the summit promises to simplify life through technology, traffic chaos made movement across central Delhi difficult. Approaching Bharat Mandapam via Mathura Road or nearby arteries felt daunting, she said.

Anjali left GK-II at 3.40 pm for a meeting near Parliament, but her route kept on changing as the traffic situation worsened near Lajpat Nagar. "Diversions via Ring Road, South Extension, Defence Colony and Golf Links all led to more snarls," she said. Running extremely late, she finally had to cancel the meeting and reached her ITO office at 5 pm.

There were multiple reports of prolonged checks on roads near central Delhi hotel zones and heavy security build-up around India Gate, which also slowed down traffic.

Congestion was reported across multiple stretches through the day, including Teen Murti Chowk, the Barapullah Road stretch, Sardar Patel Marg, Ring Road (AIIMS-sensitive stretch), South Extension corridor, Mathura Road, Pragati Maidan Tunnel, C-Hexagon, Connaught Place outer circle, Mother Teresa Crescent, Dhaula Kuan, NH-8 Delhi-Gurgaon stretch, and Golf Links, New Delhi.

Officials from Delhi Traffic Police said simultaneously managing multiple high-security delegations across different routes is a complex and real-time operation, especially on a weekday. "We had more than 5,000 cops handling traffic, but needed to follow security protocol," an officer said, adding that the focus was on maintaining tight security while trying to keep disruption on roads as limited and short-lived as possible.