Farmers Movement Archive

Relief for commuters as Delhi-Ghaziabad carriageway at UP Gate opened after 48 days

Ghaziabad: The Delhi Police on Monday reopened the Delhi to Ghaziabad carriageway of National Highway 9 near the UP Gate, 48 days after it was closed following the incidents of violence on the Republic Day during the farmers’ tractor rally. The move will facilitate the commute of thousands of people travelling from Delhi to Ghaziabad using the stretch.Earlier, commuters from Delhi were forced to use various alternate routes such as through Sector 62 in Noida and the Anand Vihar-Kaushambi border. According to officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the UP Gate stretch caters to anything between 80,000 to 100,000 passenger car units per day. “It is a big relief for thousands of commuters as they had to travel an additional 5 to 10km each day and waste 30-45 minutes for taking different alternate routes to reach home in evening. The Hindon canal road is also serving as alternate route, but proper traffic management is needed to ensure smooth vehicular movement,” said Kuldeep Saxena, an Indirapuram resident and a daily commuter to Delhi. In Delhi, the additional deputy commissioner of police (east), Vinit Kumar, said in a statement that the decision to open the Delhi-Ghaziabad carriageway was taken in view of the prevailing law and order situation at the Ghazipur border and keeping in mind the public convenience. “The carriageway of the national highway going towards Ghaziabad from Delhi has been opened in due consultation with the police officials of Ghaziabad district in public interest,” the statement said. Officials of the Ghaziabad police said that the other carriageway from Ghaziabad to Delhi still remains blocked as protesting farmers are camping at the site. Gyandendra Kumar Singh, superintendent of police (city 2), said that Delhi to Ghaziabad side of the highway was made operational on Monday . “The carriageway from Delhi to Ghaziabad is operational now and vehicles are plying normally. The Ghazipur to Vaishali slip road is still closed. So, commuters are using the Hindon canal road to move to Ghazipur in Delhi but there are some traffic snarls as it is a small road and catering to heavy traffic which is meant for the expressway/highway. We have deployed our traffic personnel to manage the traffic and other diversions are still continuing,” Singh said.The farmers are camping at the UP Gate since November 28 last year and blocked the carriageway on December 3. They have maintained that some “outsiders” resorted to violence during the tractor rally on the Republic Day. The farmers are demanding repeal of the Centre’s three farm laws and also urging the government to bring in a new law on minimum support price.“One side of the highway has been opened up. It was our demand that road barricades should be removed for daily commuters who were facing issues. Our protest is going on at the other carriageway,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a member of UP Gate farmers’ committee.

Hindustan Times

15-03-2021

Noida