Gurgaon sees traffic jams on 'Car Free Day'

Gurgaon's police chief Navdeep Singh Virk on Tuesday rode a bicycle to mark "Car Free Day" (CFD), but the normally busy roads here witnessed the usual traffic jams.

The CFD was an initiative of the Gurgaon administration, organised by traffic police and municipal corporation with support from NASSCOM, Embarq India, Raahgiri Foundation and Rapid Metro.

The mission was to free Gurgaon's roads from perpetual congestion, urge people to use alternate modes of transport and to reduce pollution.

With one lakh new cars being registered every year in Gurgaon, the city caters to 12 lakh cars for a population of 35 lakh, including its floating work force.

While the whole of Gurgaon celebrated CFD, four major IT corridors were identified to make the campaign more concentrated -- DLF Cyber City, Cyber Park area, Golf Course Road and Electronic City.

"In the morning there were fewer cars but the situation became the usual self later. Several roads witnessed traffic jams," a senior police officer told IANS.

The organisers of the event said it was a good start and it will be repeated every Tuesday.

Police sourced 20 cranes to tow away cars parked on roads. Rapid Metro increased its frequency.

Feeder buses were also provided from major metro stations like Huda City Centre and Sikanderpur and from the Kapashera border to the major IT hubs. But none of this could ease Gurgaon's notorious traffic woes.