BRICS traffic plan: 35 roads, 22 diversion points, schools shut
Delhi Police have named the controlled stretches and the alternatives. For the airport, the advice is to take the Metro.
Delhi Police have placed more than 35 roads under traffic control and identified 22 diversion points for the three days of the BRICS summit, with the heaviest disruption falling on central and south Delhi and on the diplomatic and administrative districts.
Schools across the national capital will stay shut on 11 September, the day the leaders begin arriving. A circular issued by the Directorate of Education on 5 September puts government, government-aided and unaided recognised private schools on holiday, along with the directorate's own offices. Commuters have been told to add time to every journey and, for the airport in particular, to use the Metro.
The controlled roads
The controlled area covers most of the road network around Lutyens' Delhi. Among the stretches named in the advisory are Tees January Marg, Akbar Road, Teen Murti Marg, Mother Teresa Crescent, Sardar Patel Marg and Janpath.
It also takes in Subramaniam Bharti Marg, Rajesh Pilot Marg, Purana Qila Road, Sher Shah Suri Marg, Tilak Marg, Bhagwan Das Road, Lodhi Road, Neela Gumbad, Kartavya Path and Tughlaq Road.
Further out, the list runs to Mathura Road, Firozeshah Road, Africa Avenue, K.M. Ataturk Marg, APJ Abdul Kalam Road, C-Hexagon, Dr Zakir Hussain Marg, Ashoka Road, Prithviraj Road and Kautilya Marg, along with Safdarjung Road, Panchsheel Marg, San Martin Marg, Nyaya Marg and Brigadier Hoshiar Singh Marg.
One caveat matters more than the list itself. A road appearing on it does not mean that road is shut continuously for three days. Movement will be regulated or diverted according to what security and traffic conditions require at the time, which in practice means restrictions tighten and loosen around motorcades.
Where you will be turned around
The 22 diversion points include Dr Dinesh Nandini Dalmia Chowk, known as W-Point; Ram Charan Aggarwal Chowk, or A-Point; Guru Nanak Chowk; KG Marg at Outer Circle; Janpath; Patel Chowk; RML Hospital; the Vande Mataram Marg and Simon Bolivar Marg junction; Dhaula Kuan flyover; and Moti Bagh flyover.
Others are the roundabout on Brigadier Hoshiar Singh Marg, Madarsa T-Point, several junctions along Lodhi Road, Neela Gumbad, the area beneath Oberoi flyover, the U-turn opposite DPS Mathura Road, the Ring Road and Bhairon Road junction, and Mandi House.
Each point comes with a specific instruction. At Dr Dinesh Nandini Dalmia Chowk, traffic towards Mathura Road and Tilak Marg is not permitted, and drivers are pushed onto Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, IP Marg and Sikandra Road. At Patel Chowk, movement towards Windsor Place and the RBI is restricted, with alternatives running along Ashoka Road towards the GPO and Sansad Marg towards Connaught Place.
Getting to a train
Rail passengers have been given approach routes by direction rather than a single recommended road.
For New Delhi Railway Station, travellers from the north are directed via ISBT Kashmiri Gate, Boulevard Road, Rani Jhansi Marg and DBG Road. From the south and east, the suggested route runs Ashram Chowk, Ring Road, Raj Ghat and JLN Marg. From the west, it is Vande Mataram Marg, Dr Ambedkar Marg, Panchkuian Road and Outer Circle at Connaught Place.
For Old Delhi Railway Station, approaches include ISBT Kashmiri Gate, Ring Road, Hanuman Mandir and S.P. Mukherjee Marg; from the south and east, Ashram Chowk, Ring Road, Raj Ghat and Hanuman Mandir.
The days that will hurt
Thursday was already expected to be difficult, with most leaders arriving that day. The weekend is a different problem: roads into Lutyens' Delhi will be largely closed on Saturday and Sunday, with police posted to stop unauthorised movement.
BNSS Section 163, which prohibits the gathering of people, is already in force across central and Lutyens' Delhi. From Saturday it applies across the whole of Delhi.
The leaders' own movements are compressed into two narrow windows — arrivals at Bharat Mandapam between 1.30pm and 2.15pm on Saturday, and between 8.50am and 9.25am on Sunday. Around those windows, and around the run from Palam and the Chanakyapuri hotels, restrictions will be at their tightest.
Managing all of it sits alongside the wider security operation, for which around 30,000 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed.
For anyone with a flight, the Metro advice is the operative line in the whole advisory. A motorcade window can close a corridor at short notice, and a car on Mathura Road at the wrong moment has nowhere to go. The trains do not use the roads.
