Demanding re-allotment of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board in Kashmir, the protestors held up traffic at 48 spots. The traffic police received 249 distress calls between 8.30 am and 12.50 pm.

East Delhi and Northeast Delhi were the worst affected — as many as 12 major intersections were affected. Blockaded by a huge bevy of protestors, Akshardham road, Nizammuddin bridge, and the Shahdara flyover in trans-Yamuna areas saw logjam that stretched more than a kilometre each.

“I picked a passenger at 9 am from Ganesh Nagar in east Delhi and was bound for Khaniya Nagar in North Delhi. But all roads were closed and there was a huge traffic jam,” Manish Kumar Pandey, an auto-rickshaw driver, said. “With nowhere to go, I finally dropped her at ITO; she walked down to Indraprastha Metro Station from there.”

One of the major blockades was at Darya Ganj, with some 900 BJP workers gathered there. “I left home, in Pitampura, at 9.15 am and, driving at a crawling pace, reached my office in Daryaganj at 11.45 am — the entire Ring Road was jammed,” said Atul Sharma, an employee of an insurance firm. Hundreds of activists also gathered in front of Liberty Cinema, at Karol Bagh, as also in Khajuri Khas, Seelampur, Bijwasan station (near Kapashera), Saraswati Vihar, Noida Morh to Akshardham stretch, and Uttam Nagar bus depot.

ITO chungi also saw a massive logjam with senior BJP and VHP leaders, including Delhi BJP president Dr Harsh Vardhan and VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia, leading the protestors. “Our purpose is not to harass Delhi residents; we just want to draw the Centre’s attention and put pressure on them to find a solution to the Amarnath issue,” Harsh Vardhan said.

In south Delhi, traffic was affected at Lajpat Nagar, Ashram, Green Park, Badarpur, Safdarjung Hospital and Lodhi Road among other places.