NEW DELHI: In the beginning, there were barricades. Now, there are barbed wires, nails and temporary concrete walls.
To prevent protesting farmers at Ghazipur and Singhu borders from entering the national capital, police have taken steps that converted Delhi into a fortress of sorts. Commuters had already been facing problems due to the blocked roads. Now, additional security arrangements have made the situation even worse for them.
Around seven layers of barricades with barbed wires were visible around the Ghazipur protest site on Monday. They have been put up to restrict the protestors to a limited space. At Singhu border, Delhi Police have erected concrete walls around the protest site. At the Tikri border area, a bed of nails was laid on the roads around the protest point.
Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava himself visited the Ghazipur protest site to take stock of the situation.
The police have also closed some small entry points at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. This caused severe inconvenience to daily commuters, forcing them to take long detours to reach destinations.
“From Kaushambi, I had to go all the way to Bhopra border and Mandoli and further to reach my workplace in Rohini. The NH is closed. Today, several other small entry points were shut. This led to traffic snarls. The authorities have just turned blind to the common man’s sufferings. It is easy for them to impose restrictions, instead of finding a solution and plan things in a better way,” said Manoj Mishra (name changed), a resident of Kaushambi.
Due to the extra layers of security, traffic had to be diverted even from the places which are far away from the protest site.
Despite elaborate arrangements made by the police, farmers in large numbers continued to join fellow protesters at the Ghazipur site for the third day in a row.
“The unity between farmers of UP, Haryana and Punjab is the soul of this agitation. Till the time we remain united in our protest, we can achieve the dream that we have seen. Keep supporting each other, stay organised and peaceful,” said Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, addressing a huge crowd at Ghazipur. They are now gearing up for a nationwide ‘chakka jam’ on February 6.
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