If it wasn’t Sunday morning, toll would have been higher

NEW DELHI: The 6km-long Lala Lajpat Rai Path has become a nightmare for motorists ever since Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) started construction on the stretch last year. The volume of traffic on the road during peak time is a staggering 2 lakh vehicles an hour, with an average 3.5 minutes stoppage at six traffic intersections.

Thus if Sunday���s Metro mishap had taken place on a weekday, the casualty figures would have been much higher, given the volume of traffic. The place where the accident took place is barely a few metres away from Bluebells School and Lady Sriram College, where admission season is underway.

Said local resident Kabir Sharma: ���My children go to this nearby school everyday. Had this accident happened on any other day, many people would have lost their lives. A lot of call centre employees use the bus stand near the spot from where they are picked by their cabs.���

On normal weekdays, the Bluebells buses are parked right outside the school gate on the road from where children embark and disembark. ���Most pedestrians use the LSR College point to cross the road and residents of Zamrudpur use the the road to go to the village. On a normal day, more than 3000 people use that crossing every hour during peak time,��� said a traffic cop who mans the traffic at the junction.

Lifting and installing of heavy objects is carried out by Delhi Metro at night, between 11pm and 6am, but even then traffic is not exactly light. DMRC has also deployed marshals at junctions with particularly high traffic volume. The authorities claimed the roads will be cleared by Monday morning.

On Sunday, residents of the area had to face much inconvenience as several roads leading to the spot were closed by the police. ���I had come to meet my friend after two months in Amar Colony but due to so many diversion, it took me nearly an hour to locate his house,��� said Anand Vashisth, a resident of Dwarka.