Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers block EPE in Ghaziabad for 24 hours, traffic diverted

Ghaziabad: Farmers protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws at the UP Gate on Saturday morning took to Dasna interchange of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) and announced its blockade for the next 24 hours. Police officials said that traffic police personnel were deployed at interchanges on EPE in Ghaziabad to minimise the hardships faced by commuters.Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said that all the seven interchanges of EPE remained non-operational due to the farmers’ protests. The protesters said that the blockade will continue till 8am on Sunday. “The blockade will continue for 24 hours, and will be lifted on Sunday morning. It is because we needed to remind the government of our demands as they are not talking to us. The protesters will stay at EPE on Saturday night and have made arrangement for beds and foods,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a farmer leader from Uttarakhand and member of the UP Gate farmers’ committee. The NHAI officials expressed helplessness over the state of affairs as one carriageway of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway is also blocked by protesters since December 3 last year. “All the seven interchanges on the 135km EPE remained blocked, and this also resulted in loss of toll. The commuters also suffered. We have conveyed the issue to the administration,” said Mudit Garg, project director, NHAI. On several occasions, farmers have blocked the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and EPE as part of their protests and have been successful in their blockades. “As the farmers blocked the EPE, we ensured that commuters were diverted to other routes without any problems. Regarding the blockade, we will hold meeting and discuss the future course of action,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate. The traffic police said that they deployed personnel to prevent traffic jams on the EPE. “Our personnel remained deployed at interchanges in Ghaziabad and ensured that traffic was diverted through other surface roads. Commuters faced issues but we tried our best to divert them to the best available alternate route. The traffic on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway was not affected due to the blockade,” said Ramanand Kushwaha, superintendent of police (traffic). According to official estimates, the EPE has a movement of about 40,000-50,000 passenger car units per day. The EPE is also linked now to the recently opened Delhi-Meerut Expressway through an interchange near Dasna.

Hindustan Times

10-04-2021

Noida