Protesters told to clear vital Delhi-Noida road

In a letter to protesters at Shaheen Bagh, the police have said that their stir is causing inconvenience to commuters across the city.

Under fire for a road closure near Kalindi Kunj that has led to massive jams in parts of south Delhi for the last 14 days, Delhi Police have blamed anti-CAA protesters for the traffic woes and asked them to withdraw from a spot on road 13A, which connects Delhi and Noida.

Protesters who are on an indefinite sit-in against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) seen at Shaheen Bagh, Okhla in New Delhi. (Amal KS/ Hindustan Times)

In a letter to protesters at Shaheen Bagh, the police have said that their stir is causing inconvenience to commuters across the city. The road closure has also led to additional load on other Noida-Delhi connections, including Nizamuddin bridge and DND flyway, leading to traffic jams spilling over to Ashram Chowk and parts of Mathura Road.

While the police’s letter does not specify a deadline, several officers, who did not wish to be named, said the protesters would be forcibly removed within a day or two if they did not comply. The protesters, however, say they will continue the agitation and are ready to be detained.

The road was first shut soon after protests broke out near Jamia Millia Islamia on December 15. The police, at that time, said it had received “credible inputs” that more protesters would join the stir from Uttar Pradesh, and decided to shut road 13A to prevent a potential influx.

It did not specify who had given this input.

Two weeks later, the road is still closed, and over this period several protesters have gathered at a spot in Shaheen Bagh, near Kalindi Kunj, to agitate against the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, and a proposed all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The protesters have now set up a stage on the carriageway towards Noida from Sarita Vihar, and also blocked a part of the carriageway from Noida to Delhi.

Experts blamed the police for allowing the situation to reach this point.

Vikram Singh, who was the director general of the Uttar Pradesh state police between 2007 and 2009, said the local police must be blamed for allowing the protesters to squat on the road. “When you block an important artery that connects Delhi for over 24 hours, you are giving the protesters the free hand to assemble and squat. Once the police blocked the roads, space was abandoned. I won’t call Road 13A a road. It is an artery to enter or leave Delhi. Never has such an important road been blocked for so many days. The one who issued the order must learn from his/her mistake and never issue such orders. Who blocks a road for days? That order was a licence to allow protesters to sit on the road and cause chaos. And we are bearing the brunt.”

Several serving officers, who asked not to be named, said the stand-off continues because the police, criticised for using water cannons, lathi charges and tear gas shells in Jamia Nagar and Delhi gate, are now hesitant to use force fearing a backlash.

They said they were yet to get a signal from the top brass to use force and evict the protesters. “The top brass faced criticism for their handling of the protests at Jamia university campus. Maybe this is why they are unsure how to deal with the protesters here,” said a local officer.

According to eye-witnesses, the first group of protesters gathered at road 13A on the afternoon of December 15, when police clashed with locals outside the Jamia Millia Islamia campus. That evening, Delhi Police blocked the Kalindi Kunj border road, cordoned off one carriageway of Mathura Road towards Faridabad, and another road that leads to Jamia campus from Mathura Road. While these two roads were opened the same night, the border was left shut overnight.

As protests against the police action on Jamia students intensified the following morning, more protesters thronged at Road 13A while it was still out of service. As their numbers slowly grew over the last 14 days, it became harder to evict them. Now, tents have been set up on the road and a makeshift stage erected right in the middle of the carriageway.

There are around 500-1,000 people at the spot at any given time, according to locals.

With the road is unusable for traffic, Mathura Road, Ring Road and the Delhi-Noida Direct flyway remain clogged, particularly during peak hours. All vehicles entering Delhi from Faridabad on Mathura Road have to use the DND flyway to enter Noida, instead of turning towards Sarita Vihar and using road 13A.

Delhi Police issued a notice late Saturday to the resident welfare and market associations of Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar, Abul Fazal Enclave and Okhla. Copies of the notice were also pasted at the protest site. In the notice, the police said that the road blockage has led to traffic jams at different places in south Delhi. The police have also said that ambulances and vehicles with patients visiting Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar from Noida have to take a detour towards DND just to enter Sarita Vihar.

When contacted, deputy commissioner of police (south east) Chinmoy Biswal did not detail when the protesters would be evicted, if at all. The officer said, “The notice was served after a number of meetings with local residents who conveyed the everyday problems they faced due to the road closure. We have told protesters to vacate the road. Legal action required will be taken in the time to come.”

Another senior officer, who did not wish to be named, said that during the police’s meeting with the local residents, some of the resident welfare association heads claimed that most of those who are protesting are not local residents. “We have circulated a notice in the area and the site of the protest. This is the first step. Their act has caused massive problems for the lakhs entering or leaving Delhi. If they do not respond, evicting them by force is the only option.”

However, on Sunday evening, protesters continued to block the road, and said they will continue their agitation. Sharjeel Imaam, a PhD scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, who has been at the Shaheen Bagh protest site from the first day, said, “We are not afraid of being detained. We will continue the sit-in protest here. Any decision on moving the protest to somewhere else, if taken, will be after January 1.”

Danish, another protester at Shaheen Bagh, said the police should have spoken to the agitators personally.

“Many of us are yet to receive the notice. The police should have spoken to us directly rather than sending these diktats. We have no plans to relocate the protests as of now,” he said.