Commuters faced long delays on several major roads in Gurugram on Tuesday as heavy pre-Diwali traffic and two vehicle breakdowns triggered snarls stretching up to 4km during peak hours.
National Highway-48 (NH-48), the Delhi-Gurugram border, Cyber City-Udyog Vihar and the Leisure Valley Park-Tau Devi Lal Stadium corridor were among the worst-affected stretches. On NH-48, traffic heading towards Gurugram from the direction of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport moved slowly near the border. A nearly 3km stretch between DLF Cyber City and Udyog Vihar remained congested during peak hours, with vehicles crawling past Belvedere Towers in Sector 24. Delhi began enforcing restrictions on the entry of petrol and diesel vehicles registered outside the national capital that do not meet BS-VI emission standards on November 1, as part of measures to curb winter air pollution. Manoj Kumar, an autorickshaw driver who lives in Sector 5 and regularly travels through Udyog Vihar and Cyber City, questioned the effectiveness of the restrictions amid heavy congestion. Meena Verma, a resident of Sector 49, said she was caught in the congestion for nearly 30 minutes. Meanwhile, a Haryana Roadways bus broke down near Narsinghpur on Tuesday afternoon, triggering a nearly 4km-long traffic jam on NH-48 between Narsinghpur post office and Khandsa Mandi.
Breakdowns of a Haryana Roadways bus near Narsinghpur and a truck near Jharsa compounded the congestion, with traffic police warning that peak-hour snarls could persist for another two to three days. Traffic was also disrupted along a nearly 4km stretch between Leisure Valley Park and Tau Devi Lal Stadium following a truck breakdown near Jharsa.
An official said relatively fewer vehicles not compliant with BS-VI were reaching the border, and the checks were not significantly affecting traffic movement. “What is the point of the vehicle ban when such congestion itself causes so much air pollution?” he said. Traffic police personnel said the stranded vehicle had affected movement along the corridor. “It took me 30 minutes to cross the stretch, which usually takes barely 10 minutes,” she said.
Traffic police officials, however, maintained that checks at the Delhi border to enforce restrictions on vehicles that do not meet BS-VI emission standards were not a major contributor to the congestion on Tuesday.
Rajiv Chowk, Subhash Chowk and Shankar Chowk are being manned round the clock in three eight-hour shifts to regulate vehicular movement. Slow-moving traffic was also reported on Old Delhi-Gurugram Road, Old Railway Road, roads around Sector 37 and Sadar Bazaar, near Hero Honda Chowk, along Southern Peripheral Road and near Ghata T-point. With Diwali falling on November 8, Gurugram traffic police have increased personnel deployment at major intersections and 30 other congestion-prone locations across the city.
The breakdown disrupted movement on the main carriageway, with queues spilling onto the service lane and worsening congestion, according to traffic police. Officials said the bus was subsequently removed and traffic was expected to return to normal. “Our aim is to ensure smooth traffic movement so that residents can commute to and from work on time,” traffic police spokesperson Vikas Verma said.
