Farmers’ protest: No relief from traffic chaos in national capital

PTI, Dec 2, 2020, 12:48 PM IST

New Delhi: There is no relief in sight for commuters, especially office goers, from long traffic snarls on Wednesday as thousands of farmers blocked key entrances to the national capital for the seventh day on the trot.

While the police has kept the Haryana-Delhi border at Singhu and Tikri closed for traffic, the protest at Ghazipur, the city’s border with Uttar Pradesh, has also intensified.

The protest at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border led to the closure of a key route connecting the national capital with the state.

“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.

Two more border points connecting the national capital with Gurgaon and Jhajjar-Bahadurgarh were also closed as precautionary measures.

The traffic police said the borders at Tikri, Jharoda and Jhatikra are closed for all kinds of “traffic movement”. The Badusarai border is open only for two wheelers.

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 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, decided to meet again on Thursday.