NEW DELHI: The traffic movement in the national capital got worse with no relief in sight for commuters from long traffic snarls on Wednesday as thousands of farmers camped out on the borders of Delhi blocked key entrances to the national capital. The commuters, especially office goers, were affected the most stuck as traffic moved at snail’s pace on several key roads of the city.
The farmers continued their sit-in at the Noida-Delhi border for the second day on Wednesday, leading to the closure of a key route that connects Uttar Pradesh with the national capital. The route, however, was partially opened for commuters coming in from Delhi. Police and PAC personnel are deployed at the border in adequate numbers and some protestors who had gathered under the Mahamaya flyover, disrupting the road traffic, have been shifted to nearby ground, the police said.
Commuters heading to Delhi were advised to take the DND or Kalindi Kunj route instead of the Chilla route. “The Chilla border on Noida link road is closed for traffic due to farmers’ protests near Gautam Budh Dwar. People are advised to avoid Noida link road for going to Noida and use NH 24 and DND instead,” the traffic police tweeted.
The police also closed the Kalindi Kunj border after receiving inputs that a group of farmers might gather there. However, when farmers did not arrive at the Kalindi Kunj border, it was later opened for traffic.
Farmers also intensified their protests at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border in Ghazipur leading to traffic jams in several parts of Ghaziabad and East Delhi.
On the other side, the Haryana-Delhi border at Singhu and Tikri remained closed for the seventh straight day, two more border points connecting the national capital with Gurgaon and Jhajjar-Bahadurgarh were also closed as precautionary measures. According to the traffic police, Jharoda and Jhatikra borders were closed for any Traffic Movement while the Badusarai border was open only for two wheelers.
The available open borders to Haryana are Dhansa, Daurala, Kapashera, Rajokri NH 8, Bijwasan/Bajghera, Palam Vihar and Dundahera, it said.
As traffic spilled over to alternate routes, it led to long jams there as well. The protest against the new farm laws is set to continue as the critical talks between three Union ministers and farmer groups ended in a stalemate on Tuesday after they rejected the government’s suggestion of a new committee to look into issues raised by agitating farmers. The two sides, however, have decided to meet again on Thursday.’