Delhi: 28 including 24 students injured after 4 school buses, car and auto collide with each other

28 people including 24 students got injured after four school buses, a car and an auto collided with each other near Salimgarh flyover, MG Road on Monday.

Schoolchildren on an educational tour were injured in an accident after four buses collided with three other vehicles on the Salimgarh flyover in Central Delhi on Monday morning, police said.

All injured are under treatment. Further enquiry is being conducted. Legal action is being taken accordingly, said a Delhi Police official.

According to police, there were a total of 216 students in the four buses that "accidentally" collided with an autorickshaw, a car and a motorcycle.

In total, 28 of them were injured including three school staff and a civilian. The accident led to a huge traffic jam in the area with the onlookers and school students making videos of the pile-up of vehicles.

The impact of the accident was such that all the buses, car and autorickshaw involved in the accident were damaged.

Later, the traffic congestion was cleared on the stretch.

Heavy traffic chokes routes to central Delhi

Meanwhile, commuters travelling towards central Delhi from the eastern parts of the national capital and Noida faced heavy traffic due to VIP movement towards and away from Rajghat on Monday.

President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered floral tributes to the Father of the Nation at his memorial in Rajghat. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also paid homage to the Mahatma at Rajghat.

According to police, those commuting via ITO, Pragati Maidan and Barapulla faced heavy traffic as these routes were completely choked. Areas around ITO, including the stretch leading from Lady Irwin College to Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, saw heavy traffic for a few hours in the morning. A senior traffic police official said, "We had deployed additional traffic personnel in the area as there was VVIP movement in the area in view of Mahatma Gandhi’s Anniversary at Rajghat, which followed the same route."

"From Akshardham to Rajghat, there is a heavy traffic jam. There were points when the vehicle was at a standstill for at least 45 minutes. Since I had an important meeting to attend in Connaught Place, I had to reach on time but due to the traffic snarls, I could not make it on time," said Anil Agrawal, a commuter. 

Another officer-goer said, "Even though I started my commute on time, I was stuck at Rajghat for over an hour. There was absolutely no movement on the stretch. "Heavy traffic jams were also reported from Dwarka where commuters said the vehicles were moving at a snail's pace. Taking to Twitter, the Delhi Traffic Police alerted commuters to avoid certain stretches. "Traffic is heavy on Vikas Marg, Ring Road near Rajghat due to special traffic arrangements. Kindly avoid the stretch," it tweeted.

"While going to my office on Sansad Marg, I was stuck in a jam on Vikas Marg for nearly 25 minutes. 

Later, I also witnessed traffic congestion on ITO Marg. Traffic is anyways chaotic on Monday and today the situation was worse," said Viyansh Thripathi, a software engineer. 

Traffic movement has also been affected due to road damage. 

"Road has been caved-in in the carriageway from Mahipalpur towards IGI Terminal-3 (between Aerocity-1 and Aerocity-2) due to which traffic will remain affected. Kindly avoid the stretch," the traffic police tweeted.

Authorities and traffic police personnel were also deployed to repair the damaged road and instruct the commuters to avoid the stretch. 

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