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It wasn’t just passengers driving into Delhi from the suburbs who could not reach the airport on time after the police went on an overdrive to block entry into national capital Delhi to prevent mobilisation of protesters against the citizenship law. At least 19 flights were cancelled and 16 more delayed because the airline crews were also stuck in the traffic jams that stretched up to seven kilometres on the national highway from Gurugram.
IndiGo said it had to reschedule and curtail 20 flights out of Delhi (about 10 percent of its outgoing flights from the capital) due to the traffic restrictions. The airline was forced to cancel these flights as its crew, which is accommodated in Gurgaon hotels, could not reach the airport due to the traffic restrictions at the border by Delhi. For the future, the airline said it had proactively blocked hotel rooms near the airport.
Airport officials said 16 other flights of different airlines were also delayed because the airline crew could not reach the airport on time. A spokesperson for Air India said eight of their flights from Delhi were delayed by 20 to 100 minutes.
Also Watch l Anti-CAA protests in Delhi: Metro service hit, traffic jams: All key points
Vehicles have been piling up at Delhi’s borders all day after the national capital’s police barricaded the entry points to check each and every vehicle. The checking was designed to stop potential protesters against the controversial citizenship law from entering the city from neighbouring districts. The police claimed the restrictions were put in place to maintain peace and hold the law and order situation in the city.
The traffic police responded to angry tweets from commuters who were stuck in the bumper-to-bumper traffic that didn’t seem to move, advising people to use a different route. It didn’t tell them which roads were open.
Police wanted to control the traffic getting into Delhi to avoid public gathering at Jantar Mantar today against #CAA_NRC. Seems they are ok with a 5 kms long traffic jam on the roads. This is only from Gurgaon, heard other entry points are in the same situation. pic.twitter.com/ufuVyZDKAq
— Gurjinder Singh (@gurjinder_gs) December 19, 2019
Raman Krishnamoorthy, an IT professional from Manesar said his son missed his flight to Kolkata because they couldn’t reach Delhi airport in time.
“My son is an artist and had to go to Kolkata by a AirAsia flight regarding official work. We started from our house at 9 am to catch a 12.30 flight. We tried taking NH8 and even MG Road but got stuck in traffic and could not reach the airport,” he said.
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