The auto rickshaw driver, who stopped and dragged the branch off the road as passersby helped up the fallen rider, said: 'I have been seeing fallen branches all the way from Janakpuri. Nobody has cleaned anything.'

Megha Suri, a doctor who had stopped to see if the motorcyclist needed medical attention, wondered: 'Why do we pay road tax if we have to run an obstacle course between fallen trees and potholes all the time?'

The combination of obstacles also narrowed the busy stretch from three lanes to one on the carriageway moving towards the airport, and the result was a traffic snarl that stretched for over four km in the morning rush hour.