Arterial roads in central and east Delhi were choked with stretches around the ITO junction witnessing long tailbacks for hours following the cave-in of a portion of the road on Bhairon Marg.
Traffic snarls in and around ITO and the Ring Road stretch near Sarai Kale Khan started right in the morning peak hours and deteriorated by 12 PM.
Long tailbacks were also witnessed on Vikas Marg, the stretch near Pragati Maidan, and arterial roads in central Delhi, a senior traffic official said.
A portion of the road caved in on Bhairon Marg, where repair work was underway, triggering the traffic mayhem, officials said.
"To tackle the situation, traffic from Ring Road to Mathura Road has been diverted till the repair work is over," said Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Muktesh Chander.
Adding to the mess was a leaked pipeline that caused flooding in an area near the ITO flyover by afternoon. The situation was also aggravated by a chain of trucks which were allowed to ply in the morning after being stalled in east Delhi due to traffic jams last night.
Commuters passing through these areas during the day had a harrowing time and had to spend hours on stretches which they said would normally take them a fifth of the time to cross.
The Delhi Traffic Police helpline was bombarded with phone calls till evening with people enquiring about traffic congestion and road diversions, the official said.
Vehicles on the three major arterial stretches -- Mathura Road, Tilak Marg and Sikandra Road -- converge at the ITO junction either to take a right towards Vikas Marg, heading east, or move straight towards Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, which leads towards central Delhi. Traffic on all three stretches was thrown out-of-gear in the day.
In the afternoon, thousands of vehicles were stuck on Vikas Marg, compelling Delhi Police to deploy officials to manage the situation. Commuters also complained about inadequate police presence near the road cave-in site.
