The traffic congestion was in two spells -- one that started at 9.30 AM when the VVIPs were travelling to the inaugural function at Vigyan Bhawan and then later at 11 AM when the Prime Minister and the VVIP delegates started moving towards India Gate, the police said.
The arterial roads in Lutyens' Delhi were clogged with severe vehicular traffic due to the heavy footfall at the World Food India festival which opened at the India Gate today and visiting foreign dignitaries.
With so many foreign dignitaries present in the national capital, the police had to facilitate VVIP movement that led to traffic congestion.
There was also a religious function at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj ahead of Gururpurab tomorrow that further led to chaos in Lutyens' Delhi.
The VVIP movement, including the arrival of large number of delegates at the food festival, choked the roads in Lutyens' Delhi affecting vehicular movement on other roads as well, a senior traffic police official said.
Traffic spilled over to Vikas Marg from Bhairon Marg where a parking space was arranged for the visitors of the food festival.
This caused heavy traffic on Vikas Marg from Laxmi Nagar to ITO.
Delhi Traffic Police alerted commuters on its official twitter handle about the heavy traffic near India Gate and other parts of the city.
"Traffic is heavy at C -- Hexagon (India Gate) due to VVIP movement," they tweeted, suggesting to commuters to avoid the area.
The three-day festival is being organised by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries at the India Gate lawns.
Delegates from over two dozen countries, those from different Indian states, and the food processing industry are participating in the event.
Many judges of the Supreme Court were also stuck in the mega traffic jam in Lutyens' Delhi due to the heavy footfall at the World Food India festival.
"I was travelling from Vaishali to Central Delhi. It is usually a 40-45 minute drive. Today, it took me more than one-and-a half hours to reach my workplace since I was stuck in jam which started as I approached Pragati Maidan," Sengupta said.
She said that her vehicle "barely managed to move" till Firozshah Road circle which was completely packed.
"It was thanks to some traffic police personnel who came in to manage the situation that I finally reached office," she added.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
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