New Delhi, January 1: Parts of metro cities in India such as Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai witnessed heavy traffic jams on the occasion of New Year 2024, i.e. January 1. Commuters were greeted with bumper to bumper traffic in the evening of the first day of the year 2024. Many videos surfaced on X showing the gridlock on major roads in Delhi, Mumbai and other metro cities.
Delhi's ITO road saw slow vehicular movement on the evening of the New Year 2024. Similarly, traffic snarls were seen at Chengalpattu in Tamil Nadu. Commuters on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway witnessed bumper to bumper traffic at many points. In Chennai and Bengaluru too, traffic jams were seen on some roads.
Traffic Jam on Delhi's ITO road
Traffic snarls at Chengalpattu
Heavy traffic on Mumbai-Pune Expressway
Slow vehicular movement in Chennai
Truckers, bus drivers protest new hit-and-run law in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh
Vehicular movement was affected in several parts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh on Monday, January 1, thousands of truckers and private bus drivers launched protests against the stringent new Motor Vehicles Act of the Centre. In Madhya Pradesh, truckers and bus drivers staged a "chakka jam" (traffic jam) across the state, disrupting traffic movement.
Vehicular movement was hit in Thane, Palghar, Nashik, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Gondia, and other parts of Maharashtra due to protests against a new hit-and-run law, which attracts a 7-10 year prison sentence for drivers falling foul of it. The busy Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway was among the worst-hit.
Why truckers are protesting
Under the new provisions, any truck driver involved in any hit-and-run accident will face criminal prosecution and shall be liable for 10 year jail and a fine of Rs 700,000.
All India Transporters’ Welfare Association CEO JP Singla said that usually, its small vehicles like cars or two-wheelers which are guilty in hit-and-run accidents, not truckers. “Just think… Where will the trucker go and hide with such a huge truck…? In many accident cases, the angry local mobs either hammer them badly or even kill the driver,” Singla told news agency IANS.
