Bharat Bandh: Barricading by Delhi Police causes 2-km vehicle backlog in Gurugram

The barricading at the Delhi-Gurugram border was done in view of a Bharat Bandh, organised by Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a farmers’ organisation, against the three farm laws introduced by the Centre in September last year. Checking was at its peak for about an hour between 9.30am and 10.30 am, as only two lanes of the carriageway were available for vehicles to pass through

Heavy barricading by the Delhi Police at the Sirhaul toll plaza on Monday morning triggered a massive backlog of vehicles for around two kilometres, up to Shankar Chowk, in the city. It took commuters around 30-45 minutes to cross the stretch during the peak hour.

Heavy barricading by the Delhi Police at the Sirhaul toll plaza on Monday morning triggered a massive backlog of vehicles for around two kilometres, up to Shankar Chowk, in Gurugram. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The barricading was done by Delhi Police in view of a Bharat Bandh, organised by Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a farmers’ organisation, against the three farm laws introduced by the Centre in September last year.

Checking was at its peak for about an hour between 9.30am and 10.30 am, as only two lanes of the carriageway were available for vehicles to pass through. The Delhi Police was assisted by its Gurugram counterparts as well as paramilitary forces.

“To keep a check on law and order due to the Bharat Bandh, we barricaded a section of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway at the Sirhaul toll plaza. There was no fixed time for setting up the barricades as such and we could have continued with it for the rest of the day had there not been heavy traffic congestion arising on the national highway from it. We opened more lanes for traffic movement around 10.30am and reduced the barricades,” Ingit Pratap Singh, deputy commissioner of police (south-west), Delhi Police, said.

After the Delhi Police opened most of the carriageway, traffic started returning to normalcy. However, traffic movement on the opposite carriageway, leading from Delhi to Gurugram, was unaffected throughout the day.

It is not the first time traffic on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway has been severely affected due to barricading by Delhi Police.

On September 17, Delhi traffic police had set up multilayered barricades at the Sirhaul toll plaza due to a protest march by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders in central Delhi against the three farm laws. On the day, it took commuters nearly 30 minutes to cross the stretch. On two separate occasions, agitating farmers had gathered at the Sirhaul toll plaza and blocked the movement of vehicles on the carriageway heading towards Delhi.

However, there was no gathering of protesters or any disruption on Monday, according to the Gurugram police.

“There was no disruption or protest anywhere on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. Delhi Police had set up barricades due to Bharat Bandh protests around 9.30am, due to which there was temporary congestion on the highway. We informed Delhi Police officials that agitating farmers had been stopped behind by Haryana Police at Jaisinghpur Khera and there was no need for intensive checking. Mutually, it was decided to open the barricades,” Ravinder Singh Tomar, DCP (traffic), Gurugram police, said.

Jaisinghpur Khera is located in Rewari district, around 65 kilometres from the Kherki Daula toll plaza.

Commuters said that vehicles were stacked in a beeline up to Shankar Chowk.

“It took me nearly two hours to reach central Delhi from my house. I was stuck at the Sirhaul toll for nearly 40 minutes. There was heavy barricading by Delhi Police, and at a time, only two to three vehicles were allowed to pass through,” Vinayak Rungta, a resident of Sector 47, said.