‘Gurgaon to Meerut in 8 hours’: Raksha Bandhan rush brings Delhi-NCR traffic to a standstill
Raksha Bandhan, a festival celebrated on a Friday this year, prompted many in the Delhi-NCR region to travel home or visit relatives during the long weekend. This surge in travel led to heavy traffic on Thursday evening in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, and Gurgaon. The Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) was among the most affected areas, with traffic moving at a snail's pace in several spots.
Videos from high-rise residential societies overlooking the expressway revealed seemingly endless lines of vehicles stuck in the congested road. Sunanda Acharya shared a video on social media, captioning it, "Massive Traffic Jam in Ghaziabad! Festival travel turns into a traffic nightmare!" The Delhi-Meerut Expressway experienced a major bottleneck near an exit where an eight-lane road narrowed down to two lanes.
As vehicles converged into the narrower section, traffic slowed considerably, resulting in long queues. Gurgaon also witnessed severe congestion as people left the city ahead of the long weekend. Bhupender Siwag shared videos and pictures from Gurgaon, noting the widespread traffic jams. "Today it’s traffic jams everywhere Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Meerut, everywhere!
It feels like people aren’t leaving these cities for Raksha Bandhan this long weekend, but to escape these cities altogether!" he wrote. Commuters expressed their frustration online, with some reporting being stranded for hours. One user remarked, "Gurgaon to Meerut in 8 Hours ! Thank you NHAI," while another commented, "Water logging, jams and what not.
Just another day in #Gurugram!" Yet another user blamed the dependence on private vehicles, stating that many cars carried only one or two passengers, occupying a significant amount of road space. The surge in traffic was also evident at bus stops, with large crowds gathering to board state roadways buses heading to various districts like Agra, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Kanpur, Lucknow, and others.
Written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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