GHAZIABAD: Traffic restrictions and diversions for kanwar yatra led to severe snarls across the city on Monday, despite 1,500 policemen being deployed along roads to ensure the devotees move in a line.Blockades on the Meerut Road and GT Road had a cascading effect on adjoining stretches, forcing commuters to spend over 30-45 minutes to cross intersections on these two roads. Officers said the situation was likely to remain the same for the remaining part of the yatra.On Meerut Road, one side of the carriageway — from Modinagar to the Ghaziabad city side — was completely blocked for the safe passage of kanwariyas. On Monday, commuters using the Raj Nagar Extension road and going towards Raj Nagar, Kavi Nagar or adjoining areas were given passage at the ALT crossing. However, with the number of kanwariyas increasing over the next couple of days, the movement of vehicles could be completely stopped on the stretch.At this intersection, commuters had to spend at least 15-20 minutes to move a distance of just 100 metres.Sources said lakhs of devotees pass through Ghaziabad during kanwar yatra. The number swells to around 50 lakh during Maha Shivratri, which falls on August 13.On the GT road on Monday, the movement of vehicles from Chaudhary More to Jassipura had completely stopped. Moreover, a complete ban on movement of vehicles was implemented from Police Chowki Teela More to Muradnagar via Pipeline road.According to diversions put in place by the traffic police, vehicles coming from the Eastern Peripheral Expressway will not be able to get down to NH-58 at Duhai. Instead, they will have to get down at Dasna and use NH-24 to reach their destination. Likewise, commuters from Delhi wishing to go to Haridwar have been advised to take the NH-24 via UP Gate and move towards Hapur to reach their destination.Sanjeev Sharma, a resident of Signature Homes who works with a chemical and pharmaceutical company in Noida Sector 59, said it took him over an hour to reach the Hindon Elevated road from the CISF cut on Monday evening.“The next few days till August 10 are going to be very tasking for Ghaziabad residents. There is no road in the city that will not witness heavy traffic movement throughout the day. The peaks hours in the morning and evening are going to be worse,” Sharma added.SP (traffic) SN Singh said: “Commuters are being advised to follow the traffic diversions put in force by the traffic wing. Many of them are not aware of the diversions and are getting stuck here and there. Cops along with the volunteers are manning the roads round-the-clock to ensure minimum traffic snarls on the roads.”

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