That sinking feeling: Traffic comes to a halt

NEW DELHI: Metro construction work at Ashram Chowk, a road cave-in near ITO and waterlogging because of a DJB pipe leak on Outer Ring Road triggered massive jams in parts of south and east Delhi during peak hours on Tuesday.
According to the traffic police, Ashram Chowk became a major choke point after a gantry crane engaged in the Metro work got dislocated due to a storm on Monday night and blocked the Ring Road.Police said that ripples could be felt till Noida because of this.
A DMRC spokesman said: “Vehicles moving along the Ashram flyover towards Mathura Road and those coming from Bhogal and the DND expressway sides had to be diverted from Tuesday morning after a gantry crane at the under-construction Ashram Metro station was dislocated on Monday night. The crane will be dismantled.”
Sources said by evening, movement of smaller vehicles was allowed on the affected stretches. “We are hoping to fix these things by Wednesday. Traffic police have advised us not to allow traffic movement on these stretches for two days,” said a source.
Vehicles trying to use the Outer Ring Road hit roadblock near Modi Mill after a leak in DJB pipeline led to waterlogging. The backlog stretched to the Nehru Place flyover where another repair work is under way.
Movement of traffic coming from east and central Delhi sides was affected because of a cave-in near the Ring Road-ITO bypass. Vehicles from east Delhi, which usually use the stretch, were diverted through Vikas Marg leading to snarls.