Truck breaks down, triggers 4.7-km traffic jam on e-way

Vehicular movement between Rajiv Chowk and Signature Towers on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway was severely affected for 90 minutes on Friday morning due to the breakdown of a truck, said officials.

According to Millennium City Expressways Private Limited (MCEPL) officials, the concessionaire for the expressway, an overloaded truck carrying rocks from Jaipur to Delhi broke down around 6.30am on the Signature Towers flyover, on the left-most lane of the four-lane carriageway.

MCEPL officials said their hydra crane reached the spot around 6.40 am.

Their driver realised that two tyres of the truck had burst, due to which the vehicle had stalled on the expressway. The truck driver was there at the time.

“But around 7am, when the police approached the spot, the truck driver locked the vehicle and left, possibly out of fear. It was only when we started moving the vehicle with the hydra crane, that we realised that he had also engaged its handbrake, which hampered its movement further,” said Sai Krishna, assistant engineer, MCEPL. “The police intervened and stopped us from proceeding further as they realised that there was a high possibility of the vehicle toppling over, which could lead to injuries or even casualties,” he said.

The traffic police said that with the truck remaining stationery, vehicular movement started getting hampered, especially between 9am and 10.30am,peak traffic hours, resulting in a 4.7 kilometre snarl between Rajiv Chowk and Signature Towers.

“As the truck could not be moved, officials were deputed at all major points on the expressway to direct traffic. On the 4.7 kilometre stretch, we used the service lanes of the expressway extensively at Rajiv Chowk, Jharsa Chowk, and Signature Towers to divert vehicles. After 10.30 am, entry of trucks in the city stopped, which helped reduce the volume of vehicles. From then on, and until the truck was moved from the spot, there was congestion on the expressway, but vehicles kept moving,” said Rajesh Kumar, traffic inspector, Gurugram police.

For commuters travelling on the expressway, the 90-minute chaos created major hassles, as it delayed them by more than 25 minutes.

“I use the expressway to head towards central Delhi on a daily basis for work. Today, I reached extremely late for a meeting that I had to organise as I was stuck on the expressway for nearly 30 minutes due to the truck breakdown. There was a there was a heavy rush on the service lanes we were diverted to as well,” said Harshit Kumar, a resident of Sector 47.

R Srinivasan, a resident of Sector 50, said that despite travelling during non-peak hours, he took 15 minutes to cover the 4.7 km stretch.

“Even during peak hours, the stretch between Rajiv Chowk and Signature Towers is never heavily congested. Today, vehicles were moving at a snail’s pace until they crossed the spot where the truck broke down,” said Srinivasan.

Sai Krishna said that two phone numbers were painted on the back of the truck. Both MCEPL officials and the traffic police tried to contact the numbers around 7.10 am, he said.

“One of the numbers was switched off, while the other belonged to Sant Kumar, the owner of the truck, who said he would contact the driver.Around 10.50 am, he called us said he had asked the driver to reach the spot,” said Krishna.

MCEPL officials said that Dalip, the truck driver, returned around 11.40am and the truck was finally moved from the spot around 1.00pm.

“The truck driver claimed he had gone to a local eatery nearby and hence, got delayed. However, he could not give a concrete answer when we asked why it took him four hours to do so. Hence, necessary fines were levied on him, which he paid on the spot,” said Rajesh Kumar.

Dalip had to pay a total fine of ₹3,900 for disobeying police orders, parking on the wrong side, driving without a number plate, and for installing pressure horns in the truck.