Gurugram: New sector residents block Kherki Daula toll plaza, seek free access to e-way

Gurugram Three residents of sectors 79-113, newer sectors of the city, were arrested and four others booked for blocking the Kherki Daula toll plaza for an hour,

Gurugram Three residents of sectors 79-113, newer sectors of the city, were arrested and four others booked for blocking the Kherki Daula toll plaza for an hour, from around 10.30am on Wednesday, leading to a traffic jam that extended for a kilometre, up to Narsinghpur.

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Nearly 200 residents had gathered near the toll plaza to protest the blockade of a stretch they had carved out on the Northern Peripheral Road (NPR). They also formed a human chain and demanded that they be given the right to move freely around the toll plaza. The toll plaza operator had dug up the road on Tuesday, to prevent passage of vehicles, as it allowed residents access to the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, bypassing the toll plaza.

The police said that seven protesters, including the three who were arrested, have been named in the FIR. A police official privy to the matter said that the protest has been video-recorded and they are trying to identify others.

Around 10am on Wednesday, a public holiday on account of Gandhi Jayanti, residents had gathered near the NPR and had an altercation with the residents of Kherki Daula village, on why jersey barriers installed by Millennium City Expressway Private Limited (MCEPL), the toll operator and concessionaire of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, to block their passage should not be lifted.

Manoj Yadav, a Kherki Daula resident, said, “Villagers will not allow the new sector residents to make this road again, as what they had done — blacktopping the road on Sunday night — was completely illegal.”

Residents of the new sectors had objected to villagers opposing their demand. Raj Yadav, a resident of Sector 84, said, “It seems that the MCEPL and villagers have some sort of a deal. That’s why people from Kherki Daula, who were against the toll operator on Wednesday, are standing behind him because MCEPL is making a sector road for the village.”

MCEPL is carving out a 150-metre road for the villagers of Kherki Daula. On Wednesday morning, workers were seen laying stones on the track. This road will provide villagers access to a service lane of the Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway.

S Raghuraman, chief executive officer of MCEPL, said, “There is no conspiracy going on. Residents should protest in the right manner and seek legal approach, instead of sitting on a dharna at the toll plaza.”

MCEPL officials estimated a loss of around ₹4.5 lakh in revenue, due to the blockade that lasted for an hour.

Mahender Singh, a resident of Kherki Daula, said, “We had asked the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to make this road, as our village comes under its ambit. The matter is still in the MCG’s files; all of us will support MCEPL as they are providing connectivity to our village.”

The new sector residents decided to form a human chain in front of the Kherki Daula toll plaza and block the passage of vehicles. Lokender Singh, a resident of Sector 83, said, “We are sitting here not because we want to disturb traffic movement, but raise a question that if you cut off the NPR, our only point of connection, where will we go? You are forcing us to wait in long queues.”

Despite blocking the toll plaza, residents, however, allowed the passage of emergency vehicles. An ambulance moving from Manesar, ferrying a patient who had suffered a head injury and was in a serious condition, was allowed passage as soon as the protesters heard the siren.

The protesters raised slogans, such as “remove toll”, “give us our life back” during the protest. As chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was in the city, there was hardly any police officer at the toll plaza, except for the head constable from the Kherki Daula police station.

When more police personnel reached the spot, residents tried to get the police support, by quoting a court order, which read, “MCEPL has the right to install temporary structures and not permanent one like they have after putting jersey barriers.”

However, the police did not budge and asked the protesters to vacate the spot.

Soon, Gurugram tehsildar, Hitender Sharma, was sent to the toll plaza with instructions from the deputy commissioner (DC), Amit Khatri, to disperse the crowd. Speaking through a loudspeaker, Sharma said, “All residents are requested to open the blockade immediately, if they don’t, action will be taken against them.” He added that blocking a national highway is an offence.

Rajesh Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Manesar, also reached the spot to disperse the protesters. “We have registered an FIR against the mob and arrested three people under the Preventive Detention Act,” said Kumar.

The crowd dispersed after residents were assured that a five-member delegation would be allowed to meet the DC on Wednesday evening. However, residents said they are yet to do so.

Kirti Singh, a resident of Sector 84, said, “Until now, we haven’t received a call from the DC’s office.”

The residents also cleaned up the 350-metre road they had blacktopped on Sunday night. The MCEPL had dug up the road on Tuesday afternoon, leaving concrete blocks on the carriageway.

An FIR was registered against the seven persons under sections Section 8B (punishment for mischief by injury to national highway) of the National Highways Act, sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

Residents, however, opposed the sections imposed by the police. Lokesh Yadav, a resident of Sector 83 who has been named in the FIR, said, “We had not gone to Kherki Daula toll plaza to protest. We wanted the road, which the MCEPL had dug up on Tuesday, to be restored. Our movement failed because the villagers of Kherki Daula supported the toll operator. There were few people who led those gathered to a march up to the toll and blocked it. The main purpose of such miscreants was to get an FIR registered against us. The sections that the police has booked us under is absolutely wrong and not justified. They should immediately cancel the FIR. All of us had thought that the three people who were held by the police would be released in half an hour, but we were shocked to find out that they have been arrested.”