NEW DELHI: With several heads of state arriving in the capital for the AI summit, traffic management in central Delhi shifted into high security mode on Wednesday. Given the enormous scale and sensitivity of the VVIP movement and the fact that it was a weekday, traffic moved slowly on several stretches, passing through barricades and intersections that were strictly controlled by the police.The first wave of VVIP movements started in the morning with the arrival of the delegates at the summit and continued till the afternoon. Each arrival impacted the stretches around the airport as convoys headed to hotels such as The Oberoi, The Claridges, Le Meridien, The Imperial, Leela Palace, Taj Palace, Hyatt Regency and The Ashok. Domestic traffic on National Highway 8 and Dhaula Kuan was severely affected.
One commuter wrote on social media: “There is a lot of traffic towards Terminal 1. Please advise the Delhi Traffic Police to deploy (more staff).” Another posted: “International travel now seems faster than getting home from the airport. Delhi traffic tests patience more than immigration queues.”While the strictest traffic restrictions were expected later in the day, especially around 6 pm when delegates were to move to Bharat Mandapam, the summit venue, their individual schedules affected traffic earlier when multiple convoys moved to Hyderabad House, AIIMS and other public places, depending on bilateral meetings and other commitments of the VVIPs. By 4:00 p.m., at least 40 of these “movement cycles” had already occurred, according to a source.Anjali, a commuter, said it was ironic that while the summit promises to simplify life through technology, the traffic chaos was making movement difficult in central Delhi. Approaching Bharat Mandapam through Mathura Road or nearby arteries was daunting, he said. Anjali left GK-II at 3.40 pm for a meeting near Parliament, but her route kept changing as the traffic situation worsened near Lajpat Nagar. “Detours via Ring Road, South Extension, Defense Colony and Golf Links caused more problems,” he said. Arriving very late, he finally had to cancel the meeting and arrived at his ITO office at 5 pm.There were multiple reports of prolonged road checks near hotel areas in central Delhi and heavy security reinforcement around India Gate, which also slowed down traffic.Congestion was reported on several stretches throughout the day, including Teen Murti Chowk, Barapullah Road stretch, Sardar Patel Marg, Ring Road (AIIMS sensitive stretch), Southern Extension Corridor, Mathura Road, Pragati Maidan Tunnel, C-Hexagon, Connaught Place outer circle, Mother Teresa Crescent, Dhaula Kuan, NH-8 Delhi-Gurgaon stretch and Golf Links, New Delhi.Delhi Traffic Police officials said that simultaneously managing multiple high security deputations on different routes is a complex and real-time operation, especially on a weekday. “We had more than 5,000 police managing traffic, but we needed to follow security protocol,” one officer said, adding that the focus was on maintaining tight security while trying to keep disruptions on the roads as limited and brief as possible.