Interstate movement between Delhi and Gurugram will continue to be regulated, says district administration

Gurugram: The district administration stated in its latest order on Tuesday that interstate movement will continue to be regulated for now, making it clear that

Gurugram: The district administration stated in its latest order on Tuesday that interstate movement will continue to be regulated for now, making it clear that the curbs at the Gurugram-Delhi border are likely to remain in place till further orders.

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Gurugram Police has closed the borders on May 1 to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease(Covid-19) as many cases were traced back to the Capital. The checking was relaxed in the following days due to the resulting traffic congestion on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway though the police continued to randomly screen commuters.

On Tuesday, district administration released a fresh order regarding Unlock 1.0, stating that there shall be no restrictions on the intrastate movement of persons and goods. However, e-permits will be required for movement outside the state.

Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner of Gurugram, said that the borders will be regulated by previous orders and mechanism in this regard. “Until further orders, movement passes from district administration are needed for the movement between the two cities. Those who already had passes until May 31, do not need to apply for fresh as they have automatically extended the dates until June 30,” he said.

Khatri said that for passes, people can apply on the SARAL Portal to travel to the national Capital and the process of passes is ongoing. “The passes will be issued only in case of a medical emergency, personal emergency and for employees of the company who already have permissions for running their operations. Passes will also be given for the movement of vehicles engaged in essential services and people exempted from the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions or if the company has already taken permission for operations,” he said.

Meanwhile, responding to mediapersons on the issue, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the decision of Delhi government to shut borders holds weight as strictness was needed on the Delhi-Haryana border.

“The ministry of home affairs has given guidelines that all interstate borders should be opened. We also took a decision to open these. But later Delhi said the borders should not be opened for now,” said Khattar, who was addressing a virtual press conference.

“Our borders were already closed but when the Delhi government said these should not be opened, we felt what they are saying holds weight. Strictness should be there for now along the Delhi-Haryana border,” he added.

The CM said they will talk to the Delhi government as a consensus should be there on inter-state issues.

The Gurugram police continued to carry out random checks at their side of the border leading to minor congestion near the barricades during peak hours as the traffic slowed down.

Many commuters said that they were confused about whether the restrictions on the border had been relaxed or made severe.

The daily commuters said after the news circulated on social media that the borders were sealed in Delhi, they started early and crossed the border before the sunrise to escape police screening. “I am very confused and had a sleepless night as I had to cross the border early morning before the police start checking. The police get active after 8 am, until then I have crossed many times and its free flow,” said Mandeep Singh, senior executive of a private company.

Around 25 police personnel were deployed at Sirhaul border, out of which nine were randomly checking the vehicles and had turned away several commuters who were not carrying valid permissions for work.

The police said the volume of traffic was high during Tuesday evening which resulted in long queues at Sirhaul, Dundahera and DLF Phase-3 connecting to Aya Nagar in Delhi following which they had removed barricades for half an hour.

Gurugram police commissioner Muhammad Akil said they will continue to follow the existing directions till the state government issues new guidelines. “We have not received any new guidelines for the borders but we are randomly checking the vehicles. The residents travelling to Delhi are allowed to cross the border if they have valid movement passes or identity cards to establish valid reasons to visit the city for work,” he said.