Noida Traffic congestion on Noida’s Sector 18 road and surrounding areas remained high on Sunday, as people continued to throng local markets for Diwali purchasing.
Traffic police said it deployed nearly 30 traffic police personnel at Sector 18 to manage the congestion.
“A traffic inspector and three sub-inspectors among 30 traffic police personnel are being deployed near Atta Market and Sector 18 to manage the festival congestion,” said deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Pravin Ranjan Singh.
“On Saturday, the need to implement diversion was not required. If there is a need, diversion may be applied. But we are working to clear the congestion before it builds up,” said DCP Singh.
On Friday, the traffic police had announced diversions saying that the vehicles would be diverted to the Film City underpass, then to DLF Mall, Atta Peer, and Sector 16, Sector 15, etc., if pressure increased in the area.
On Sunday, vehicles crawled on both roads under the Sector 18 metro station, as one side has Sector 18 market rush while the other has Sector 27’s Atta Market. Encroachment by roadside vendors also doubled the congestion around the area.
Traffic police said they have put barricades on both sides of the road and allowed only one vehicle at a time.
“To cross the Atta Market road is always a task, but during the festival it gets worse due to the number of vehicles, pedestrians, and roadside vendors,” said Akshat Gupta, a commuter. “Traffic police should ask the vendors not to encroach on the road, as it multiplies the congestion after one lane is left to manoeuvre the vehicle.”
To be sure, apart from roadside vendors, there are nearly 700 shops in Atta Market in Sector 27.