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Ghaziabad border with Delhi to stay shut for now
Ghaziabad district administration on Sunday said that their borders will continue to remain sealed till further directions, even as Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal
Ghaziabad district administration on Sunday said that their borders will continue to remain sealed till further directions, even as Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that the capital will lift restrictions on inter-state movement from tomorrow (Monday).
Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) also said that they have completed repair work near UP-Gate that will provide relief to commuters moving to Delhi.
The Ghaziabad district magistrate on April 22 had imposed restrictions on inter-border movement of people, citing rising number of Covid-19 cases in the district. Additional restrictions were put in place on May 27. Later, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on June 1 had announced the closure of border for a week.
“There are no directions issued by the district magistrate for opening of Ghaziabad’s border with Delhi. The previous directions will continue to be in force,” said Manish Mishra, superintendent of police (city).
The UP-Gate border is a major transit point for people from Ghaziabad to go to east Delhi. The border witnessed movement of at least 80,000 passenger cars daily on an average, as per estimates of the NHAI, before the lockdown.
Traffic at present, however, has reduced to one-fourth due to restricted movement during the lockdown period.
Of late, the UP-Gate has become a major choke point, where thousands of commuters getting caught in snarls daily due to checks and barricades put up by the Ghaziabad police. Another major issue in the area was a 200 metres dug up patch of NH-9, which restricted movement of commuters travelling from Ghaziabad to Delhi.
“The barricades on Ghaziabad side of the UP-Gate flyover are put up by the police. It is their call if they wish to remove these barricades or not,” said Mudit Garg, project director of NHAI..
“We have completed the repair work of the dug up patch of the highway, near the UP-Gate flyover. Repair was needed as the highway and the expressway lanes were not at same level. Now, the work in the area . We have also decided to open five lanes on each side of the Hindon canal bridge. This will further ease commuting from Ghaziabad to Delhi,” Garg added.
SP city Manish Mishra still late on Sunday night did not respond to a query by Hindustan Times on whether the barricades will be removed on Monday.
The barricades on the Ghaziabad side of the UP-Gate flyover have posed issues for commuters who are forced to take the underpass area.
“This leads to traffic snarls. If the barricades are removed, after the border is de-sealed, then commuters from Ghaziabad can avoid the underpass area and can go straight to Delhi. Since Delhi has announced opening of its borders, commuters will again start arriving at UP-Gate and more jams are likely,” said Kuldeep Saxena, a commuter from Indirapuram.
Following a petition, the Supreme Court on Thursday had directed the central government to convene a meeting between the officials from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to find a solution over the chaos near the Delhi borders.
Ajay Shankar Pandey, the Ghaziabad district magistrate, did not respond to calls for a comment on Sunday.
“Since the UP government is a party to the case, the directions will be issued from Lucknow. We are waiting for instructions and hopeful that some solution will come out,” Pandey had said on Thursday.
