The first weekday of Delhi’s drive to keep out vehicles registered outside the Capital that do not meet Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) emission standards triggered major traffic snarls in Gurugram and at the UP Gate-Ghazipur border on Monday, even as enforcement remained patchy at several entry points from Noida and Ghaziabad .
At the UP Gate-Ghazipur border, heavy weekday traffic and vehicle checks caused brief snarls. “There is no space to stop vehicles apart from the main road. At Noida’s Chilla border and DND toll plaza, only three to four Delhi Traffic Police personnel were seen conducting random checks. At smaller crossings, enforcement was even more limited. “They check at night. The restrictions are set to continue through the winter months, with enforcement agencies facing the challenge of balancing checks against the daily flow of commuters into the capital.
random checks led to a queue stretching around 1.7km, while smaller entry points such as New Ashok Nagar and Anand Vihar saw few or no checks While Noida’s Chilla border. A constable at Chilla claimed 30-35 vehicles from Noida had been turned back, but said the volume of traffic made it difficult to check every vehicle. The checking led to a queue of around 1.7km at Chilla. The entry from Noida’s Sector 15 towards New Ashok Nagar was unmanned, while three traffic police personnel were deployed near Anand Vihar Metro station on the Ghaziabad side. No vehicle checks were seen during HT’s 30-minute visit. Noida Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Syyed Ali Abbas said police were following CAQM guidelines and that action against BS-IV vehicles would be taken after the imposition of GRAP Stage 3.
On the Delhi- Jaipur Expressway, slow movement near Samalka led to a nearly five-kilometre-long tailback stretching up to Moulsari Avenue in Gurugram by Monday evening, police said. Chand said police had asked the MCD toll staff at DND to alert them about vehicles violating the restrictions. But officers said stopping vehicles on busy roads was difficult without causing congestion. So, even if one of us stops two or three vehicles for checks, traffic starts building up almost immediately,” a constable deployed at another entry point said. More than half a million estaimted vehicles cross the two entry points every day, according to Noida traffic police. Noida police personnel said they had asked Delhi counterparts to ease checks when traffic built up. A senior Noida traffic police officer said Delhi Police had sought assistance but questioned how state police could stop vehicles when the restriction had not been imposed in Uttar Pradesh. In the morning there’s too much rush,” an MCD toll collection staffer said. Police said barricades and checking teams at Sirhaul toll plaza, along with a bottleneck near Samalka, peak-hour office traffic, and the festive rush, contributed to the tailback. Assistant commissioner of police (Gurugram traffic headquarters) Saytapal Yadav said teams had been deployed on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway, MG Road, Old Delhi-Gurugram Road and Dwarka Expressway. Police were coordinating with their Delhi counterparts to regulate traffic, he said.
In Gurugram, Monday’s snarls followed severe congestion on the same stretch on Sunday, when intensive checks left commuters stranded for hours.
