New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) Traffic in some key areas of central Delhi and arterial roads was tied up in huge snarls after members of eight major trade unions and national federations of workers began their protest against price rise here.
‘Roads leading to the New Delhi Railway Station, Ajmeri Gate, Ram Lila Maidan, Darya Ganj, Connaught Place, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, and ITO are facing traffic congestion,’ a senior official of the Delhi Traffic Police told IANS.
‘Traffic passing through Minto Road and Darya Ganj has also been diverted to avoid jams,’ the official added.
The protest march, by central trade unions and independent workers, has been undertaken to demand change in what they called an ‘indifferent and don’t care attitude’ of the central government towards the ‘steep rise in the prices of essential commodities, rampant violation in implementation of labour laws, plight of unorganised workers, and reckless contractorisation of employees’.
The march started from the Ram Lila Maidan in central Delhi and will terminate at Jantar Mantar, on the edge of the commercial district of Connaught Place close to Parliament House.
Office-goers and commuters taking the arterial central Delhi routes faced acute problems negotiating even short distances.
‘The traffic movement at Raj Ghat is really slow and it’s blocked towards ITO,’ said media professional Akanksha Khatri, who was commuting from Civil Lines to Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Delhi’s Fleet Street where major media houses are located.
