Farmers mahapanchayat today: Noida traffic could be diverted | Check police advisory

Kisan Mahapanchayat today: Noida police said diversions could be placed near Delhi borders, where “intensive” checking of vehicles would be carried out.

The Gautam Buddh Nagar Police on Wednesday cautioned commuters about the possibility of traffic movement slowing down on some of the routes in view of the ‘Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat’ by farmers in Delhi.

A view of traffic congestion at the Noida-Greater Noida expressway road on March 06. (Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times)

The police said diversions could be placed at routes in Noida near Delhi borders, where "intensive" checking of vehicles would be carried out before allowing them passage towards the national capital, according to PTI. Follow ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ LIVE updates here.

“The general public is informed that a protest by farmers over their demands is proposed on Thursday,” the police said.

“During this programme, intensive checking will be done by the Delhi Police and the Gautam Buddh Nagar police by installing barriers on all the borders between Noida and Delhi, due to which, in case of an increase in traffic pressure on the routes from Gautam Buddh Nagar to Delhi border, traffic can be diverted as per requirement,” it added.

The police also issued a traffic helpline number – 9971009001 – for the public in case of any traffic inconvenience. "Please use alternative routes to avoid inconvenience," it cautioned.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has also issued a traffic advisory, urging commuters to avoid roads leading to central Delhi.

Officers of the Delhi Police said that they had asked SKM to restrict the number of participants to 5,000 but expect more than 15,000 people to attend it.

'Kisan Mahapanchayat' by farmers in Delhi

Hundreds of farmers from Punjab started arriving in Delhi to attend Thursday’s “Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat” at Ramlila Maidan.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 37 farm unions, which gave the call for the ‘mahapanchayat’ on February 22 at a meeting in Chandigarh, got a no-objection certificate for the gathering from the Delhi Police and municipal corporation on March 11.

The Delhi Police has allowed farmers to hold the 'mahapanchayat' with the condition of gathering not exceeding to 5,000, no tractor trolleys, no march at the Ramlila Maidan.

The “mahapanchayat” is being held at a time when other farmer unions under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and SKM (Non-Political), splinter groups of the SKM, are holding sit-ins at Shambhu and Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border for the past one month after their “Delhi Chalo” march was halted by security forces.