Traffic cops go missing at critical points during rush hour bustle

NEW DELHI: Every morning and evening, the people on Delhi's streets grind to a halt. Cars crawl bumper to bumper, buses block entire lanes to jostle for passengers, and two-wheelers weave precariously through the chaos.

- Karn Pratap Singh and Hemani Bhandari

For hundreds of thousands of commuters, the daily rush-hour ordeal has become a ritual of frustration. Yet amid this storm, the city's roads are missing one crucial element: the traffic police.

A ground check by HT along the Ring Road and Outer Ring Road during rush hour-between 9am and llam, and again between 4pm and 7pm - revealed the absence of traffic personnel at many of the busiest choke points.

Signals blinked unattended, intersections became free-for-alls, and gridlocks stretched for kilometres. For commuters, the experience is maddening. Many expressed that they feel trapped in a futile daily struggle against a system that seems indifferent.

Some described their daily commute as an exhausting battle that eats away hours each week; others pointed to the complete absence of traffic cops at points where enforcement is most desperately needed.

Choke points unattended

At Delhi Cantt (4.45pm) and Dhaula Kuan (5.18pm), two of southwest Delhi's busiest intersections, not a single traffic officer was visible during HT's visit. Further down the Ring Road at Bhikaji Cama Place and Safdarjung Hospital (5.34pm), buses stopped in the middle of the road to pick up passengers while cars skirted lanes around them, all with no regulation.

At South Extension (5.46pm), illegally parked vehicles occupied at least one lane, if not two at some points, shrinking the carriageway, turning the junction into a bottleneck.

The absence of enforcement was again visible on stretches such as August Kranti Marg (6.10pm), Essex Farm (6.12pm), and Nehru Place (7.09pm) where narrowing roads and market traffic created long snarls. Along the Outer Ring Road, at Greater Kailash (6.57pm), residential and market traffic collided near the Savitri flyover, roadside stalls spilling into the road. Again, no traffic personnel were present.