[anantc93]

I was on my way back to Gurgaon from North Campus and saw a flurry of cops at every signal on the road. As I reached Dhaula Kuan area, a passage which is always JAMMED during morning hours of 9am-10am, I found it pretty much empty because most of the feeder roads leading to the flyover, like Mahatma Gandhi marg, were blocked by cops. As I kept moving, I realized Rao Tula Ram's traffic was being blocked from getting on to the Vasant Vihar flyover. It turned out to be great for me, I completed my journey in less than an hour and 15 minutes, a drive which has taken me up to 2.5 hours during the morning traffic. But I can't help feeling sorry for all the folks who would be delayed by as much as 2 hours (even if they open up the roads, the huge incoming traffic will pile up and create a messy jam). Once I reached Gurgaon (and I could still see cops in green reflector jackets every few meters), I asked a cop on what's going on, if someone is coming? He responded affirming that someone high profile was coming but even they had no idea who!

How is it that we are OKAY with such a nuisance? Is it even legal? With enough notices on roads and enough coverage in media at least a week prior, I would still understand. But I found nothing on Google right now about any such planned blocks. Delhi Gurgaon highway already remains jammed due to the Mahipalpur underpass construction, and now we have to deal with this too?

[am1m]

Originally Posted by anantc93

He responded affirming that someone high profile was coming but even they had no idea who!How is it that we are OKAY with such a nuisance?

I'd assume that this would be par for the course on Delhi roads? Here in Bangalore we get only the occasional taste when some 'vip' lands at the HAL airport and is whisked away to the Governor's residence. Usually happens during peak traffic and causes a real pain in those nether regions. Fortunately does not happen often.

Once, when the old airport road was in very bad shape, the president was due in town. So the government got the road done up on the day before his visit! So basically, it was ok for thousands of tax-paying citizens whose money funds those roads and their salaries to use that broken road for months. But not for the one 'vip', for that they got the road fixed up pronto!

I remember riding through eastern Arunachal in 2012. Nothing for kilometers and kilometers. Not a village that was more than 4 wooden huts. When all of a sudden, there is this small convoy - a white sumo with security, followed by an SUV with a 'vip' I guess, and best of all- a whole ambulance behind that- presumably for his 'vip' safety! In a region where there didn't seem to be a hospital in sight for a 100km, this seemed like such a criminal waste.

Why are we ok with this indeed?!

[V.Narayan]

This cavalcade business is a part of our feudal mentality where such external accoutrements are needed to prove to the world and to ourselves how big we are. In Delhi-NCR it has actually improved in the last 10 years thanks to the courts.

A related nuisance is Delhi-NCR placing road blocks to slow down traffic ostensibly to check for ???? And doing precious little other than creating a choke. I am always uncomplaining about checks for drunk drivers but not so with these road blocks. Maybe members who are more wired up with police systems could explain what is achieved by road blocks.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

In Delhi-NCR it has actually improved in the last 10 years thanks to the courts.

Has it?

If anything, VIP movements have become more secretive & security-conscious over the last few years, and more troublesome for the average motorist here. Those random police barricades are everywhere, though not always manned properly. VIP movements result in huge deployment of the regular police force apart from the Traffic Police, stopping / diverting traffic at least a kilometre away from the VIP route.

DUI and speed checks are idiotically conducted at the same spot every time, with drivers going berserk as soon as they cross (or avoid) these spots.

The road & Metro construction spree has also made a mess of the traffic flow. And the less said about road engineering and design, the better. Entering Delhi from Gurugram on the NH48, one always gets held up at the border, where umpteen lanes merge into 4 (or forcibly 5) lanes - and then another choke point as traffic in the rightmost lanes veer towards the left suddenly to take the road to Dwarka. Incompetent and boorish taxi drivers make matters worse.

It'll get worse before it gets better...

[rayjaycleoful]

I usually take the highway and barupullah to get to Noida, but today saw the higher than usual traffic on maps and had to take MG road + Kalindi Kunj.
I do 80km a day and I could literally write a book on this nuisance. Just yesterday I was in Khan Market and they closed entry/ exit to the market and movement of cars in and around the area for about 10-15 minutes (?) Reason being some VIP convoy..

You can see cops standing at every 200m in and around central Delhi to check if you have a valid PUC in groups of 3-4 but there's nothing done about traffic management.


Many government/ police/ army vehicles plying on the roads are way over 10 years old. (first gen sumos, boleros, scropios etc) but they are somehow immune to the diesel car ban thing.

[rovingeye]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

A related nuisance is Delhi-NCR placing road blocks to slow down traffic ostensibly to check for ???? And doing precious little other than creating a choke. I am always uncomplaining about checks for drunk drivers but not so with these road blocks.

I run into these non sensical road blocks every once in a while during my work commute at peak hours - one in Vasant Kunj and the other right next to IIT going towards Munirka. I'm told these are to catch "terrorists" who have infiltrated into Delhi. There may be some truth behind the terrorist theory because invariably there's some news about an impending attack the very next day in the news papers.

Funny thing is, these are manned by stick wielding constables who are 99% of the times busy talking on their mobiles instead of trying to peek into vehicles to spot these so called terrorists, while traffic backs up for a few kilometers leading up to the road blocks.

While Delhi Police may have a justification behind setting these road blocks up and thereby hugely inconveniencing peak traffic and choking up arterial roads, I'd personally like them to actually behave as if they're catching terrorists (even if it's just to pretend) rather than yapping away at their phones.

[coldice4u]

The problem is not the police, the VIPs, the roadblocks, the roads. We have enough of them. The problem is THE CAR. The sea of cars that i see on NH to Gurgaon and back during office hours is sickening ! Just imagine someone needs any form of emergency services (Fire, Police, Ambulance) during these hours and how long will they take to reach anywhere. I will wholeheartedly support any measure to get cars off the roads. Infact the authorities should mandate that all companies in the NCR region will have to have to employ certain % of public buses for employees. Something like for every 5 taxis that the company uses, it will have to employ a large bus. And gradually take this to a level where we have more buses than taxis for companies.

[wildsdi5530]

Not just in NCR, here down south (Bangalore - Chennai, Bangalore - Tirunelveli) the highways are blocked by barricades in a Z fashion to slow down the vehicles. This is in addition to blinding flashing lights - red and blue. During the day these yellow barricades are not well visible and during night the flashing lights blind you and you are not able to see the barricades though they are stickered with reflective stickers. The lights also cause a migraine and are designed to trigger an epileptic attack in susceptible individuals. This apart from the unmarked speed bumps.