Delhi Police commissioner highlights traffic snarls en route to Parliament

Delhi Police Commissioner Balaji Srivastav drew the attention of senior traffic police officials on Tuesday towards traffic snarls near the Rail Bhawan en route to Parliament.

After taking charge as the city police chief, this was the first time Srivastav took to Twitter to highlight about traffic congestion in the area after it was pointed out by an official in the PMO.

The official Twitter handle of the police commissioner tweeted: ''Daily heavy traffic jam enroute to Parliament near Rail Bhavan. Needs attention at senior levels of DTP @dtptraffic and proper traffic management.'' After a tweet by the police chief, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chander sent a letter to Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sanjay Kumar stating about the heavy traffic jam from Sunehri Masjid roundabout to Rail Bhawan Roundabout and towards Parliament, which was also pointed out to CP by ''someone'' in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

According to the letter, Chander asked Kumar and all other senior officers to be in the concerned area everyday by 9 am to supervise traffic arrangements on the ground till parliament session is over so that there is no traffic jam and inconvenience caused to parliamentarians and other officials going to parliament and general public. He also sought a report from the concerned officer about the incident along with corrective measures to be submitted to him.

A senior traffic police official cited the ongoing construction work and the breakdown of a DTC bus on the Red Cross road on Tuesday morning as the reasons for the heavy traffic jam in the area.

He said a deep sewer work is being carried out on the Red Cross road. Hence, half of the road is blocked and only the other half is open to vehicular traffic.

''If one needs to reach Parliament, the Red Cross road is the only road available because Parliament Street beyond a point is also one way. So the traffic that comes from the Red Cross road takes a right turn towards Parliament Street,'' the officer said while pointing out that other roads such as Rafi Marg and Rajendra Prasad Marg are also one way.

''On Tuesday morning, at the starting of the Red Cross road near Rail Bhawan, police had put up a picket for checking and at the other end, the breakdown of a DTC bus also led to traffic jams,'' the officer said.

To decongest the roundabout at Rail Bhawan, the traffic police said it had already diverted the buses approaching the road. However, traffic cannot be diverted completely because MPs also move through the same road to reach gate no. 2 of Parliament.

In New Delhi district, the security arrangements remained tightened as the Monsoon Session of Parliament is underway and just a few kilometres away, a group of 200 farmers is holding a ''Kisan Sansad'' at Jantar Mantar to protest against the Centre''s three contentious farm laws.

The first ''Kisan Sansad'' was held by the farmers on Thursday. Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has given special permission for the demonstration by a maximum of 200 farmers at Jantar Mantar till August 9.