Over 4,000 cops on traffic duty for 20K marriages,major events

Delhi Police has deployed around 4,000 personnel for traffic management today in view of over 20,000 marriages scheduled to take place this evening and major events like the World Cultural Festival and others.
Major arterial roads in south and east Delhi are expected to witness traffic snarls for the next three days, senior officials said.
The roads identified include the Ring Road stretch in south Delhi, Noida Link Road, NH-24, areas near Akshardham, Mayur Vihar, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, Ashram Chowk, Aurobindo Marg, Mahipalpur Chowk and Mehrauli-Gurgaon road, all considered major arteries and intersections in south and east Delhi.
Initially, around 1,700 officials were deployed for traffic management for the World Cultural Festival and around 300 were reserved for the other events to be held during the same time (Mar 11-13).

Arrangement were also made in areas which have large number of farmhouses, taken on rent for marriages, and banquet halls. Later, the numbers were doubled, an official said.
While the World Cultural Festival organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living foundation is being held at the Yamuna floodplains, the Radha Soami Satsang Beas event is being organised at Fatehpur Beri area. Areas like Mehrauli and Chhatarpur are hubs for marriages.

For the World Culture Festival, organisers have made provisions for parking on the Yamuna banks. The space is limited and so, parking will be on a first-come-first-serve basis.

"People should preferably take public transport to commute and avoid the Noida Link Road, NH-24 and the Ring Road stretch from the point of intersection with Bhairon Marg till the mouth of the DND Flyway," the official said, adding, congestion can be expected on these stretches between 12 noon and 11 PM.
The official said those approaching from the trans-Yamuna side towards central Delhi, should use the ITO Road as Akshardham and NH-24 will also be congested.
Commuters from Noida heading towards Delhi should take the DND flyover as traffic on the Noida Link Road is expected to be heavy during the event, he said.

For the event by the Radha Soami Satsang Beas at south Delhi's Fatehpur Beri area, traffic will be heavy near Bhati Mines, Andheria More, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, especially the stretch between Lado Sarai and Khanpur, and the road near IIT-Delhi.