Farmers Movement Archive

Delhi: Obstacle course in national chaos region

NEW DELHI: Diversions, barricades and blockades have thrown traffic between Delhi and the NCR cities, particularly Sonipat, Noida and Ghaziabad, out of gear. Building up over the past week at various border points, disruptions due to the farmer agitation hit traffic for the first time on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Thursday when protesters at UP Gate blocked the Ghaziabad-Delhi lanes, forcing police to divert traffic. It led to daylong traffic snarls. Later in the evening, one lane was reopened briefly and then closed again. The Noida-Delhi route via Chilla also remains off bounds, increasing journey time for daily commuters between the two cities not just via the Mayur Vihar route but also DND because of additional traffic pressure at the Flyway. In the capital, most traffic disruptions are in east and outer Delhi, where the main protest points – Singhu, Tikri, Gazipur and Chilla – are located. On Thursday, Delhi Traffic Police took to Twitter and posted the names of roads that are shut and routes that can be taken. In Gurgaon, whose borders with Delhi have not seen any gathering of protesters so far, police are planning to set up diversions for Delhi-bound vehicles at eight places as farmers try to reach the capital and khaps in south Haryana plan to join them. Commuters TOI spoke to said they had been regularly getting late for work and spending long hours on the road. The blockades have forced many to return home. Pradeep Kumar, who lives in Ghaziabad’s Vijay Nagar, said on Thursday he decided to head back home after spending an hour on the road. “It was of no use trying to take a longer route to reach my office at Ashram. Half of the day would have been wasted,” he said. The lanes for Delhi-bound traffic of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway were blocked by agitators around 8.30 am on Thursday, forcing police to divert vehicles to Maharajpur and Seemapuri. Throughout the day, most arterial roads in Vaishali, Kaushambi, Indirapuram and Mohan Nagar remained congested and traffic crawled. Vehicles moved bumper to bumper for several kilometres. Traffic eased up marginally after about two hours, around 10am, when vehicles were diverted through internal roads in Lal Kuan and Noida’s Sector 62. Traffic from other parts of Ghaziabad also took a hit when police shut Hindon elevated road’s Raj Nagar Extension-Gazipur lane and vehicles were diverted towards Mohan Nagar and Delhi-Wazirabad Road through Karhera bridge. The closure of the Delhi-Noida lanes at Chilla for the second day put a halt to official work for many. “I had to go to Delhi for business. But I had to put that off because no one wants to take the risk of getting stuck near the border for hours. We have decided to put some of the work on hold till things are better,” said Sushil Kumar Jain, a Noida-based businessman. Asenior UP-Rera official who stays in Delhi said he hopes that on Friday he will be able to go to his office. “My office is in Greater Noida. Tomorrow (Friday) I will be entering Noida after two days. Hopefully, it will be hassle-free,” said Balvinder Kumar. The border chaos had a cascading effect on internal roads in Delhi. Several commuters TOI spoke to said they took at least a couple of hours more than usual to reach their destinations during the peak hours. On Twitter, Delhi Traffic Police posted a list of roads that were shut and could be accessed. “We have asked people to avoid the Noida link road for going towards Noida and use NH24 and DND instead,” said a Delhi traffic police officer. The Delhi-Noida lane of the road is open but commuters have been asked to avoid it. According to traffic police, Tikri, Jharoda and Jhatikra border roads are shut. An alert said Badusarai border is open but only for two-wheelers. “Haryana border areas that are open are Dhansa, Daurala, Kapashera, Rajokri, NH8, Bijwasan, Bajghera, Palam Vihar and Dundahera,” said a traffic police officer. The Singhu border area is shut, along with Lampur and Auchandi. “...Please avoid outer ring road from Signature bridge to Rohini & vice versa, GTK road, NH 44 & Singhu, Auchandi & Lampur borders,” Delhi Traffic Police tweeted. In Gurgaon, the police have identified eight points on the expressway to put in place a diversion plan if needed. The diversion plan would be implemented only if farmers manage to reach Gurgaon and block roads, said an officer. The points identified for traffic diversions are Kapariwas, Bilaspur Chowk, Panchgaon Chowk, Manesar Chowk, Kherki Daula toll, Hero Honda Chowk, Rajiv Chowk and Shankar Chowk. DCP (traffic) DK Bharadwaj issued a traffic advisory on Thursday and urged people to use other routes. “The diversion will kick in only if the protest causes blockades and jam in Gurgaon. Otherwise the traffic flow will be normal,” he said. UP Gate farmers hold mahapanchayat as hundreds more joinWith slogans of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” filling the air, the farmers protesting at UP Gate held a mahapanchayat on Thursday to decide the further course of action. The farmers, who have been protesting near the Ghazipur border for the past six days, were joined by many more from Uttarakhand, Punjab and other parts of the state. “The ball is in the Centre’s court now. Give us our right and we will go back. The other option is to thrash us and send us back hom. We are ready to sit here till January 26 and even extend our protest to August 15. Talks are going on with the central government, and the further course of action will depend on that,” said Naresh Tikait, national president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, who led the mahapanchayat.

The Times of India

2020-12-04

Delhi