: Commuters travelling towards Gurgaon had a harrowing time on Friday morning due to several kilometres-long traffic jam that lasted for hours on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.
The jam was caused due to closure of some of the lanes on the defunct toll plaza by the National Highways Authority of India, in adherence to Punjab and Haryana High Court orders.
The traffic started slowing down around 8 a.m. on the expressway, and affected Dhaula Kuan and Delhi Cantonment. “I had gone to get CNG for my car when I got caught in the jam near Mahipalpur. It took me almost two hours to travel a few kilometres to reach Gurgaon from Mahipalpur. It was one of the most terrible jams I have ever encountered on the highway,” said Ajay Kumar, a resident of Prem Nagar.
The situation worsened with time as NH-8 carries the maximum traffic from 8 to 11 a.m. In addition to this, the scorching heat caused vehicle breakdowns which further slowed down the traffic. Caught in the jam, many commuters took to social networking websites Facebook and Twitter to vent their frustration.
Delhi Traffic Inspector (Kapashera) Manoj Sinha told The Hindu that the jam was caused as the NHAI had erected concrete blocks at the toll without putting up proper signages, and did not inform them.
Denying reports of the Gurgaon Police being responsible for the jam, the police spokesperson, in a statement said: “Stories have appeared on the digital media accusing the Gurgaon Traffic Police for the long jam on NH-8. It has been stated that the jam occurred on account of the Gurgaon Police undertaking work on removing the toll barriers. All these stories are incorrect. The NHAI, upon the orders of High Court, without proper advisory, closed 7 out of 11 lanes, and as a result people were caught unaware. Upon receiving the information about the jam, the Gurgaon Traffic Police acted swiftly and removed the barricades put up by the NHAI.”
An official of Skylark Highways Solutions Limited said as per the court orders, only eight lanes (four on each side) should be available to the traffic on the main expressway to prevent the service lane traffic from coming onto the main carriageway.
