HC seeks reply from government on blocking of roads during VIP movement

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a reply from the central and Delhi governments and police on a PIL seeking better management of traffic jams caused by VIP movements here.

A division bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath sought the response from the governments and Delhi police by February 16.

The PIL filed by advocate Namrata Mukim referred to recent instances of harassment to commuters due to VIP movement, including women giving birth in public transportation as they could not reach hospital in time.

Life in Delhi literally came to a halt during the India-Africa Forum Summit held from October 26-30 when the central government was hosting the representatives of 54 African nations in the city, the lawyer said.

"The traffic had been thrown out of gear with major routes being blocked for VIP movement," said the plea citing several incidents which caused inconvenience to the public due to VIP movement.

On October 29, a woman gave birth in an auto-rickshaw while another woman gave birth to a baby inside a bus en-route to Ghaziabad at Sarai Kale Khan unable to make it to the hospital amid crawling traffic on October 30, said the plea.

On November 6, there were major traffic jams on Delhi's roads when the Chinese vice president was in the capital city, it added.

Mukim suggested that arterial roads should not be shut down in a blanket manner, "instead, traffic should be allowed to move freely by cordoning only a small part of the road. Thus VIP or emergency corridors can be created instead of blocking the whole road".