Delhi: Ganesh immersion processions throw traffic out of gear across city

New Delhi, Sep 09: Several parts of the national capital witnessed heavy traffic on Friday evening as people carried out processions to immerse Ganesh idols in water bodies, officials said.

According to traffic police, they received several calls complaining about congestion on roads across the city.

The traffic was heavy from Sriniwaspuri to Ashram, Khajuri Khas to Shastri Park, Usmanpur Pusta to Shastri Park, Madanpur Khadar to Kalindi Kunj, Rohini Sector-18, Sarita Vihar to Kalindi Kunj, Pashchim Vihar and Hanuman Mandir Karol Bagh, they said.

Several users took to Twitter to inform them about the traffic situation.

One person complained about heavy traffic from Khajuri to Shastri Park Pushta Road.

Another user wrote that the traffic was heavy on Azadpur Chowk. Nirankari Colony, Burari too was reported to have witnessed heavy traffic.

Ajay Chaturvedi, SDM Headquarters, southeast Delhi, earlier in the day said, "We have deployed a large number of civil defence workers and police personnel on the Yamuna banks to thwart attempts of idol immersion into the Yamuna river." "We are also making announcements asking people to use the artificial ponds created for this purpose at 12 locations," he said.

There has been no report of idol immersion in the Yamuna from southeast Delhi, he added.

A senior government official said arrangements were made at select immersion points with deployment of civil defence volunteers to assist people in reaching these spots.

Earlier last week, the police had urged the people to follow guidelines issued by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and immerse idols only at designated places identified by authorities.

According to the DPCC guidelines tweeted by the police then, people had been asked not to immerse plaster of paris (POP)-made idols in any water body/ponds/ghats except at these select places.

The Delhi government's pollution control body had asked district magistrates to ensure that idols are not immersed in the Yamuna or any other water body during this year's Ganeshotsava and Durga Puja.