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As normalcy returns, Ghaziabad police partly open borders with Delhi
Nearly a fortnight after riots left at least 53 dead and over 400 injured in northeastern parts of Delhi, the Ghaziabad police opened the three borders the town
Nearly a fortnight after riots left at least 53 dead and over 400 injured in northeastern parts of Delhi, the Ghaziabad police opened the three borders the town of Loni shares with the national capital. The Loni town in Ghaziabad shares three borders with Delhi near Lal Bagh, DLF Pushta and near Karawal Nagar. The borders, which were sealed late February 24—hours after violence spread—have since remained sealed. However, the police said the opening of the borders will be conditional.
The district officials had issued public advisory to not take these three routes to Delhi and use alternate routes instead.
“The three borders, which were sealed, have been re-opened as normalcy has prevailed in Delhi for some time now. However, the opening of these borders is conditional. We have relaxed barricading. They will only be placed in a zig-zag fashion to allow for frisking and checking as and when required. Further, the heavy police deployment will also be relaxed. Public can now use these routes,” superintendent of police (rural) Neeraj Kumar Jadaun said.
Natthu Lal, a snack seller from Delhi’s Sundar Nagri, said his small business has suffered ever since the border was sealed. “I used to come to Loni to find customers. Ever since the violence erupted in Delhi I had to stay at home and did not earn anything,” he said.
Though Mohammad Liyaqat, a tea seller and resident of Tulsi Niketan, has been running his shop, the number of customers reduced considerably. “All these days, most of my customers were on-duty cops. The sale suffered as people did not move around,” he added.
HOARDINGS NAMING ACCUSED TAKEN DOWN
The Ghaziabad police, on Thursday, said they have removed the hoardings naming those accused of inciting violence in Ghaziabad in the backdrop of the new citizenship law. The hoardings were put up by the police at Loni, Muradnagar and other parts of Ghaziabad and had pictures of suspects.
Action comes as the Supreme Court, on Wednesday, refused to stay the Allahabad High Court order directing the concerned authorities to remove posters of those accused persons allegedly involved in vandalism during the anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh. While hearing the matter on Thursday, the Supreme Court bench directed the matter to be referred to a three-judge bench.
“The hoardings were put up to identify suspects and not for any recovery proceedings as had been done in Lucknow,” SP Jadaun said.
The police had registered seven FIRs and booked about 304 identified persons for violent protests, while about 4,850 others remained unidentified. The FIRs were lodged at five police stations. The police, however, maintained that there was no damage to public property during the anti-CAA violence.
