GURGAON: Heavy rain left corporate hub Gurgaon near Delhi struggling with massive traffic jams for hours on Thursday and Friday. A ban on large gatherings, usually reserved for troubled areas, was ordered at a flooded crossing that connects to many important roads.
Cars were stranded or crawling on miles of highway. The Gurgaon police advised people in Delhi to stay away and schools will be shut for two days.
As visuals emerged of cars in bumper to bumper traffic on the highway, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari ordered the national highways chief to send a team of officials to clear up the roads and report back.
commuter told NDTV that he reached home early this morning, 12 hours after he left office yesterday.
Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar had to cancel plans for a chopper survey of the mess because of bad weather.
People were forced to sit through hours of driving in first gear and many abandoned their cars when they ran out of fuel. They walked three or four km home or the nearest commute.
Gurgaon’s police chief Navdeep Wirk was seen riding a bicycle to the blocked areas.
More rain this morning meant that reprieve could still be a few more hours away in the city known for its luxurious high-rises.
The Gurgaon police tweeted that flooding at a major crossing called the “Hero Honda Chowk” had blocked the highway and many roads in the area.
Water is being pumped out of badly flooded roads. Haryana’s top bureaucrat has called an emergency meeting to tackle the crisis.
On Twitter, comments derided the millennium city as “Guru-jam” and “the world’s biggest parking lot”.
Road traffic from Delhi to Rajasthan and Maharashtra has been severely hit.
