A 50-year-old man suffered a heart attack and died while being taken to hospital but his family alleged that traffic diversions for the full dress rehearsals for the Independence Day function delayed them in taking him to the hospital.
The deceased Kailash Chandra Maurya, a retired guest house manager, lived with his family in Gandhi Nagar area of east Delhi.
He suffered a heart attack at around 9.30 am today.
"We were taking him to Irwin hospital in an auto which was stopped near the turn towards Rajghat, after descending the Gandhi Nagar flyover. Afterwards, the auto reached ITO but there too restrictions were in place and finally I could take my father to hospital following a long circuitous route, but doctors declared him dead," said Bhupendra, the son of Maurya.
The travel time between our house to the hospital was hardly half an hour which was stretched to nearly 1.45 hours due to the route diversions and restrictions, he alleged.
"I just wish that this should not happen to anybody else," Bhupendra said.
Delhi Police termed the incident as "sad" adding that the the traffic restrictions were widely publicized before hand through various media.
"Its sad and unfortunate incident. But the restrictions on Independence Day and full dress rehearsal were well publicised including restriction on Geeta Colony to Shanti Van stretch. It might be that the medical emergency was not known to the personnel on duty because an ambulance was allowed to pass on the same stretch," said Sandip Goel, Special CP(Traffic).
He said that the Traffic staff on diversion points were instructed to guide commuters about alternative routes to their destinations.
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