Ghaziabad: Vehicular traffic yet to resume at UP Gate site

Traffic movement is yet to be regularised on the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway even after the removal of police barricades from the UP Gate flyover on Friday, officials said on Saturday

Traffic movement is yet to be regularised on the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway even after the removal of police barricades from the UP Gate flyover on Friday, officials said on Saturday.

A view of the UP Gate protest site in Ghaziabad on Saturday. (Sakib Ali /HT)

Officials of the Ghaziabad traffic police said that they will allow traffic movement from Ghaziabad to Delhi only when the farmers vacate the UP Gate site, where farmers have been protesting against the three controversial farm laws since November 2020. They have been occupying the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway and erecting dais and temporary tents there since December 3 last year. They have been demanding rollback of the three farm laws and a new law on minimum support price.

“The farmers have been protesting against the new farm laws for the past 11 months, and the agitation will continue. The Delhi Police has removed the barricades and the road is now open. But the traffic movement has not resumed as the Ghaziabad traffic police has not allowed commuters from Ghaziabad along the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway. Farmers intend to go to Delhi and the farmers’ umbrella body -- Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) -- is holding discussions over the developments related to the removal of barricades,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, UP Gate site spokesperson of SKM.

“The SKM clarified that it has allowed a two-way movement of traffic near the morcha (protest) sites in the past and will do so in the future too. If the central government wants to open the passage completely, it also has to open the passage to fulfill the demands of the farmers. Whether the farmers will continue their agitation at the same location or move it to Delhi is a collective decision which will be taken at an appropriate time,” the SKM said in a statement.

Ramanand Kushwaha, superintendent of police (traffic), said that although the flyover area is not barricaded, commuters movement on the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway of the Delhi Meerut Expressway may not resume soon. “It is because the farmers are camping at the UP Gate and we are unable to release the traffic movement towards Delhi. It may pose several issues. Once the farmers vacate the area, the traffic movement will resume smoothly,” he added.

Meanwhile, officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said that they have proposed a joint committee of officials for a damage assessment exercise. “Apart from short circuited electrical cables and damage to roads, our prime concern is the structural safety of the expansion joints of the UP Gate flyover as we have not been able to carry out repair and maintenance works for the past 11 months. This could lead to risk in commuting. So, we are proposing for a joint committee which will include NHAI officials and officers of other Uttar Pradesh agencies,” said Mudit Garg, project director of NHAI.

“Once the joint committee submits its report, we will also ascertain the amount of expenditure involved in repair and maintenance works of the expressway. We will also propose that the NHAI will not bear the cost alone, and other agencies will be involved in sharing the expenditure. It is not because of the NHAI that the commuter movement is held up,” Garg added.

The UP Gate site is one of the several sites, including different borders of Delhi, where the farmers have been camping to protest the farm laws.

On October 21 this year, the Supreme Court had said that the farmers have the right to protest, but cannot block roads indefinitely. The court was hearing a petition filed by a Noida resident, who urged the protesters to move away from the roads across the National Capital Region (NCR) as “their agitation takes a toll in daily commuting”.

The court had also granted a three-week time period to the farmer unions to file their response, and listed the next date of hearing on December 7 this year. “Ultimately, a solution has to be found. We are not averse to their right to protest even when a legal challenge is pending, but roads cannot be blocked,” the court had said.