Gurugram: No cabs & autos and metro choked, many walk miles

GURUGRAM: “I wasted my entire day today. Came to this station at 10:30am and now it’s 1pm,” said Nisha Kumari standing outside Guru Dronacharya metro station in the city. Several parts of Gurugram came to a standstill on Thursday as the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway remained gridlocked with tailbacks as long as 10km.
Pedestrians were stranded at dividers, unable to cross the roads.Several were forced to walk over 3km to 4km from Guru Dronacharya metro station to Cyber City, while many ran out of patience sitting in their cabs and took the Rapid Metro.
The agony of the commuters started right from the morning. After pleading to every auto driver for three hours to ferry her to Udyog Vihar, Kumari was on the verge of a breakdown. “Cabs on aggregator platforms aren’t accepting rides, auto-rickshaw drivers are refusing even after I offered over Rs 200 to go to Udyog Vihar Phase 4. I haven’t even eaten anything. Don’t know what to do,” shared Kumari, her eyes wet.
While passengers taking the metro from Delhi saw an unprecedented rush, those who drove had to cancel meetings as they failed to reach the venue in Gurugram on time. Karishma Ahuja, a corporate trainer from Delhi who drove to Gurgaon for her session, described her nightmare. “It was a regular weekday morning. In order to avoid the peak-hour traffic, I had scheduled the session for 12pm. But I could never reach the co-working venue and had to cancel the sessions for today after being stuck for good two hours near Cyber City.”
A few of those who did manage to reach their workplace braving the traffic received notifications from their children’s schools to pick up their wards earlier than usual school timings.
The situation was especially difficult for senior citizens stuck in vehicles for long hours. As the day progressed and protesters flooded the streets in Delhi, social media was abuzz with ordeals of the residents missing their flights and family events, and Zomato and Swiggy deliveries never reaching them.
Thousands who had left work early to avoid the snarls, instead, got stuck in jams for hours. Those who tried to take the metro had to stand in long, serpentine queues to get inside metro stations from 2pm onwards.
Ananya Tandon, a consultant at KPMG, said, “Because of the terrible traffic jam at the Delhi-Gurugram border, we were advised to leave work in a good time. I left around 3 pm and was overcharged for the cab to the metro station. It took me two hours to reach my house in south Delhi. We’ve been advised to work from home tomorrow.”
The Gurugram traffic police, for its part, issued alerts about traffic congestion due to the sealing of Delhi borders. “Due to sealing of Delhi borders at NH48, MG road and Old Delhi-Gurugram road by Delhi Police, citizens are advised to avoid non-essential travel to Delhi. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted,” they tweeted.
The situation eased after 6pm as the barricades were removed and traffic started moving at snail’s pace.