NEW DELHI: Commuters faced difficulties as the vehicular movement in the city and also between the national capital and NCR cities was severely disturbed on Friday owing to the ongoing farmers’ protest.
Traffic was heavily affected in border areas of the NCR, central Delhi, Punjabi Bagh, South West Delhi and North West Delhi.
Police closed several border points with Haryana including Singhu, Tikri, Dhansa and Jharoda Kalan in view of the farmers’ ‘Delhi Chalo’ march.
Strict vigil and route diversions at other entry points into the city and heightened security arrangements inside the national capital resulted in traffic snarls.
To prevent farmers from entering Delhi, heavy police deployment was made at NH-24, DND, Chilla Border, Tigri border, Bahadurgarh border, Faridabad border, Kalindi Kunj border and Singhu border.
Traffic movement at Dhaula Kuan, Punjabi Bagh, Outer Ring Road, Mukarba Chowk, GTK Road, NH-44 and DND, Faridabad-Gurgram route was also heavily affected.
To help the commuters, Delhi Traffic Police kept the commuters updated through its social media handles on Twitter and Facebook.
“In view of the rally/ march/protest by All India Kishan Sangharsh co-ordination committee, the traffic police is diverting traffic from Mukarba Chowk and GT Karnal road. Traffic is very very heavy in this area,” one of the tweets read.
The traffic movement was also affected at Vasant Vihar towards RTR Marg due to breakdown of a trolla at RK Puram sector 8 redlight.
In Outer Delhi, Traffic remained heavy from Bhera Enclave Round About towards Peeragarhi Chowk Outer Ring Road due to ongoing work by the Delhi Jal Board.
Many commuters in the outer areas had return back home due to closure of borders, link routes and traffic jams. Others complained about the difficulties. “It usually takes 15 minutes from my place to Udyog Bhawan, but it took me 45 minutes to reach the place due to route diversions,” said Manisha, a government employee from Laxmibai Nagar.
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Metro to run normal services from today
Delhi Metro services resumed on all lines on Friday evening after they were disrupted for a few hours at multiple places because of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march by farmers against the Centre’s new farm laws.
“Services normal at all corridors from 5:35 pm onwards,” the DMRC tweeted, adding that the services will be regular on all lines on Saturday.
The Delhi Metro on Friday morning announced the closure of exit and entry gates at six metro stations on the Green Line due to security reasons. The Delhi Metro authorities had earlier announced that services from neighbouring cities will remain suspended on Friday.