Delhi sees serpentine traffic snarls as Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra enters national capital

New Delhi: With the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra, led by party leader Rahul Gandhi, entering national capital Delhi, the city witnessed traffic snarls across arterial roads as vehicular movement was affected in southeast Delhi on Saturday morning.

Congress leaders, party workers and others who joined the yatra in Delhi marched into the city, and later resumed their walk in the afternoon after a break, in the vicinity of India Gate.

Delhi traffic police had issued an advisory on Friday warning commuters about the routes that were likely to be taken by the yatra.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra made its morning halt in the national capital at Ashram Chowk at about 11 am and later resumed at 1 pm. The yatra is heading towards the Red Fort via the Mathura road, India Gate and ITO—all iconic Delhi spots.

Police have put up sign boards requesting the yatris to march on the left side of the road. Cars and other heavy vehicles were seen moving at a slow pace due the congestion during the morning phase of the yatra.

A large number of people eager to catch a glimpse of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi thronged the roads, attempting to occupy pavements, dividers and wherever they got space.

“We reached Nizamuddin area in one-and-a-half hours from Ashram. There is so much traffic,” said Hemant, an auto-rickshaw driver who was ferrying passengers to drop them at the New Delhi railway station. The distance takes roughly about 25 minutes.

Another commuter, Amit, was apprehensive of missing his train to Ahmedabad. “You want to take out yatra, do it but think of the traffic and the problems people face,” he said.

Rajkumar, who left home to drop his sister to work, got stuck and she got late for office. “We took almost two hours to reach Jungpura from Badarpur due to this yatra. There is no proper traffic management,” he said.

Supriya was out to visit the Nizamuddin dargah but decided to go back on seeing the traffic and the crowd. “It is like madness here. No management at all. Why is traffic allowed on the road where people are walking,” she questioned.

Delhi Police’s traffic advisory had said the yatra will reach Jai Dev Ashram near Ashram Chowk around 10.30 am and will end at the Red Fort around 4.30 pm. A large number of people and vehicles are expected to join the yatra at various points along the route, according to Congress workers.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 has covered nine states so far and is scheduled to culminate in Jammu and Kashmir by the end of January.

The Yatra is on its 108th day and has covered around 3,000 km in 46 districts across nine states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana.

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