A procession heads to the Yamuna for Ganesh visarjan on Monday. (Source: Express photo by Amit Mehra) A procession heads to the Yamuna for Ganesh visarjan on Monday. (Source: Express photo by Amit Mehra)

Traffic was thrown out of gear on Monday as hundreds of devotees headed to the Yamuna to immerse idols of Ganesha on the eve of Ganpati Visarjan. Even though traffic police issued an advisory, many were stranded on road for over four hours.

Massive traffic snarls were reported from arterial roads including the Ring Road and intersections of Central, East and North Delhi.

The worst affected areas were Nizammuddin, Ashram Chowk, Vikas Marg, Laxmi Nagar, ITO, Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj, Paharganj, Sikandra Road and Kashmere Gate.

Police said even though extra traffic personnel had been deployed to regulate the traffic, people who got down from trucks carrying Ganesha idols blocked entire carriageways in East Delhi.

“The people taking out processions blocked the carriageway, leaving no space for other vehicles. The devotees started to move towards the Yamuna bank on foot. We had to disperse the crowd to resume traffic flow, but it took a lot of time,” an officer said.

Police also had to divert traffic going to Noida through DND flyway and Sarai Kale Khan-Ashram route and through NH-24 to Ring Road.

According to police, there were more than 2,000 trucks carrying idols. The main ghats where the devotees gathered were Nigambodh Ghat, Geeta Colony Ghat, Kudasia Ghat and Chhath Visarjan Ghat.

“The number of trucks were much more than what we expected. More than 20,000 people came out during the evening to go to the ghats. The traffic situation became worse as it was a working day. During the evening peak hour, it became difficult to manage the vehicles. The traffic situation resumed around 9 pm,” the officer said.

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