Visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry and his convoy were stuck in massive traffic near Satya Marg here this evening due to water logging caused by heavy rains while on his way to the hotel from the IGI airport.
The convoy of Kerry, who arrived here to participate in the 2nd Indo-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, was heading to the hotel in Chanakyapuri in south Delhi when it was stuck in the traffic jam near Satya Marg today, an official said.
Mega traffic jams were reported across the city at intersections like Kashmere Gate, Dwarka, Dhaula Kuan, and the Moolchand flyover.”There were over 50 waterlogging points that hampered traffic movement,” said Sandeep Goel, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Delhi.Gurugram, the business hub near Delhi, which grappled with 12-hour-long jams last month after persistent showers, was also left grid-locked. Steve herman posted a video of the traffic:
Additional forces called out to try to get @JohnKerry motorcade through Delhi traffic after more than an hour. pic.twitter.com/kWx8V7Ihgo
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) August 29, 2016
Senior Delhi Police and traffic officials declined to share details of the incident claiming it was a “security matter”. The capital received heavy rains in the evening with the Safdarjung observatory recording 15.2 mm rainfall while the reading at Palam observatory was 8 mm. Vehicular movement was affected across the city with traffic crawling at various major intersections.
During the Dialogue, co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with Kerry and US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, the entire gamut of cooperation between the two countries were taken up.