New Year rush: Chaos grips Delhi's streets

Sushil Saini wanted to start 2025 with a scrumptious meal with his family, and decided to take them out to a nice restaurant in Connaught Place.

- Karn Pratap Singh

Sushil Saini wanted to start 2025 with a scrumptious meal with his family, and decided to take them out to a nice restaurant in Connaught Place. What he did not envisage, however, was that he and his family would spend much of January 1 on the road, stuck in serpentine traffic jams.

"A drive from Indirapuram in Ghaziabad to Connaught Place usually takes 45 minutes. On Wednesday, it took more than two hours. Vehicles were moving at a snail's pace on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and on the Ring Road, not to mention the C-Hexagon at India Gate and Ashoka Road. I now regret my decision to have a family lunch on the first day of the new year," the businessman said.

The Sainis were among the millions of people across the National Capital Region (NCR) who hit the streets to celebrate the new year, leading to massive traffic jams and clogged roads in several parts of the city.