Republic Day full dress rehearsal tomorrow: Here are the routes to avoid

The full dress rehearsal for the Republic Day parade will be held on January 23. The rehearsal will start at 9.50 am, and the parade will start from Vijay Chowk to the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. Earlier the parade route was 8.3 km long, stretching from Vijay Chowk to Lal Quila. This time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the parade route has been shortened to a 3.3 km route from Vijay Chowk to the National Stadium.

On January 26, the tableau of the parade will go to the Red Fort. For this reason, some additional routes will be closed on 26 January.

In view of the full dress rehearsal of  January 23, Delhi Traffic Police will close the Vijay Chowk, Rafi Marg, Janpath, etc. routes after 11 pm on January 22. 

These routes will be closed
Traffic will be completely restricted at Vijay Chowk from 6 pm on January 22 till the end of the full dress rehearsal on January 23. Rajpath Intersections (Cross) Rafi Marg, Janpath, Mansingh Road traffic will be completely closed from 11 pm on January 22 to the end of the parade on January 23, India Gate C-Hexagon closed from 9.15 am on January 23 till the parade is over. Delhi traffic has advised people to avoid coming to Rajpath from 9 am to 12.30 am on the day of full dress rehearsal.

Go from north to south via these routes
To go from North to South, people should go via Ring Road, Ashram Chowk, Seraiklekhon, IP Flyover, Rajpath and Ring Road. Madrasa, Lodhi Road Tea Point, Aurobindo Marg, AIIMS Chowk, Ring Road, Dhaula Kuan, Vande Mataram Marg, Shankar Road, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Road - can be visited via Mandir marg route.

Go east to west via these routes
People can travel from the east via Western Ring Road, Bhairo Road, Mathura Road, Lodhi Road, Aurobindo Marg, AIIMS Chowk, Rrong Road, Dhaula Kuan, Vande Mataram Marg, Shankar Roh and Mandir Marg. Ring Road, Boulevard Road, Snow Khana Chowk, Rani Jhansi Flyover, Faiz Road, Vande Mataram Marg and Shankar Road can be visited via Golchakkar.

City buses will end their routes here-
On January 23 and 26, city buses will end route at Shivaji Stadium, ISBT-Sarai Callekhon, Kamla Market Golchakar, Delhi Secretariat, Pragati Maidan-Bhairon Road, Hanuman Mandir-Yamuna Bazaar, Mori Gate, and ISBT-Kashmiri Gate.

Interstate buses will end their routes here-
Buses coming from Ghaziabad to Shivaji Stadium will end on NH 9 with Bhairon Marg. Buses coming from Ghaziabad to Mohan Nagar will go to Waziravad Bridge after taxing Bhopura. Buses coming towards Dhaula well will end at Dhaula well.

Two metro stations will remain closed
On 23 January, the entry and exit of the Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhavan metro stations will be closed from 5 am to 12 noon.

Some additional routes will be closed on 26 January

This time route has been reduced by five kilometers in view of the coronavirus. The first parade used to go to the Red Fort. This time the parade will go only upto the National Stadium. However, on 26 January, the parade will go to Lal Quila. In such a situation, Tilak Marg, BSZ Marg, ITO, Delhi Gate and Netaji Subhash Marg etc. will remain closed till the parade ends on January 26.

Due to the COVID pandemic, no foreign guest will be present at India's Republic Day parade, something that has been one of the highlights of the annual event celebrating the country's diversity at the heart of Delhi. 

India had extended an invite to UK PM Boris Johnson to be the guest at the Republic day who had accepted and confirmed that he would be coming. But earlier this month he had informed the Indian PM of his inability to come due to the new strain of covid virus that had emerged in the UK. 

This is the 4th time in history that no foreign guest will be present on Republic Day. The last time it had happened was in the year 1966, and before that in 1953 and 1952.

The full dress rehearsals will take place on January 23 and the final parade on January 26, for which a separate advisory will be issued.