Roads closed, traffic crawls

“As it was a working day, many arterial roads witnessed heavy traffic movement. Since seven heads of state were in the capital and their route had to be sanitised, many roads were shut. In the evening, all roads leading to Rashtrapati Bhavan were closed. On other roads, traffic was diverted,” a traffic police officer said.

Though there was no major gridlock, traffic crawled on parts of Ring Road and near Dhaula Kuan, which had a spiralling effect on Sardar Patel Marg, Cariappa Marg and Simon Bolivar Marg. Traffic movement on Vinay Marg, Panchsheel Marg, Hauz Khas and Chaudhary Dalip Singh Marg was also affected.

As Vijay Chowk, South Avenue, North Avenue, Dalhousie Road and Church Road were closed between 2 and 8 pm, motorists passing through the New Delhi area were worst hit. Till 9 pm, traffic crawled at ITO, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Minto Road, Shahjahan Marg, Tilak Marg, Purana Qila Road, Ashoka Road and Pandara Road.

Security at Metro stations from Kashmere Gate to Central Secretariat on the Yellow Line was beefed up with the CISF deploying over 70 additional officers and keeping 50 more officers on stand-by.