New Delhi, March 23 (IANS): Huge traffic jams were reported on the Delhi-Gurugram expressway and the Noida-Delhi border on Monday morning in spite of the lockdown in several cities across three states - Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi.

Traffic police personnel present on the spot, however, allowed doctors, paramedical staff and those carrying supplies of essential commodities to cross over.

"Vehicles coming to Delhi from Gurugram were stopped at the border. It seems people are not honouring the lockdown and are not taking it seriously. You can imagine this by the sheer size of the crowd," said Dr Pradeep Singla, who was going to a hospital in Karol Bagh from Gurugram.

"This is dangerous in view of the coronavirus epidemic," said Singla.

The Delhi and Uttar Pradesh governments have appealed to the people not to violate the lockdown and remain indoors to help prevent the spread of the virus. However, in spite of the appeals, vehicles in large numbers gathered in the border areas since Monday morning despite the huge police deployment. The motorists returned only after the police warned them of strict action.

"An ambulance got stuck in the traffic for more than half an hour due to the traffic jam," said Devendra Sangwan, a government official.

The Haryana police also closed an export company in Sector-38 of Gurugram which was open despite the lockdown order.