Central Delhi roads wide open this Christmas

India Gate effect

Residents chose to stay indoors on Christmas this year, resulting in the otherwise chaotic traffic in central Delhi remaining abnormally normal with the roads empty.

Police blocked the roads leading to India Gate for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.

Traffic on arterial roads like Mathura Road, Tilak Marg and Ring Road remained thin throughout the day. These roads had seen heavy traffic jams on Monday due to traffic restrictions.

“Being a national holiday, traffic largely remained thin on all the major roads in central Delhi. Despite that we deployed enough personnel to maintain smooth flow of traffic,” said a senior traffic police officer.

While some motorists were stranded at intersections leading to India Gate, others got stuck
as they thought the restrictions had been lifted.

“I was going to my relative’s place in Satya Niketan near Dhaula Kuan. Instead of taking Ring Road, I thought of taking Vikas Marg. But the road is blocked here. Now I have to take a detour through Jhandewalan,” said Pawan Garg, a Daryaganj resident, who was stopped by the traffic police on Tilak Marg near Pragati Maidan Metro station.