Sarhaul Border Jam Stretches 5 Km on NH-48 as Delhi Enforces BS-VI Curbs
Massive traffic snarls stretching up to five kilometres from the Sarhaul toll plaza hit the Delhi-Gurugram border on National Highway-48 on Sunday morning as authorities enforced restrictions on vehicles failing to meet BS-VI emission standards. The congestion backed up onto the flyover coming from Shankar Chowk, heavily disrupting vehicular movement on both the main carriageway and the service lane.
A team of approximately 50 personnel, comprising Gurugram traffic police and Haryana Police officers, was deployed at the border to inspect passing vehicles. Non-compliant vehicles found operating below the prescribed emission standards were issued challans and turned back from entering the national capital.
The Delhi government has instituted a ban on the entry of all non-Delhi diesel and petrol vehicles below the BS-VI standard from November 1 to January 31 to combat winter air pollution. While the restrictions formally target outside vehicles, including BS-III and BS-IV models across light, medium, and heavy goods categories, ground personnel also stopped and turned away Delhi-registered vehicles that failed to meet BS-VI norms. Vehicles powered by CNG, electricity, and those compliant with BS-VI standards remain exempted.
The intensive checks left motorists stranded in lengthy queues for several hours between 10 am and 3 pm. Commuter Reshma Patel, who was travelling towards Delhi, said she remained stuck for two hours, first on the Shankar Chowk flyover and subsequently near the toll plaza. Other motorists reported similar delays, including cab driver Vikas Kumar, who was held up for over an hour travelling from Maruti Kunj, and Sector 54 resident Lokesh Verma, who was stuck for nearly two hours.
During the snarl, over 100 buses transporting Congress workers arrived in Gurugram for the 'Dilli Chalo' protest called by Rahul Gandhi. Protesters led by Congress leader Raj Babbar toppled police barricades at the border as they marched ahead, briefly allowing stranded traffic to flow through before law enforcement reinstalled the barriers.
Traffic police officials deployed additional personnel later in the afternoon to accelerate inspections and manage the bottleneck. Traffic flow along the expressway gradually began returning to normal around 3 pm.
