Farmer protests: Traffic smoother, Chilla border reopens

Deputy commissioner of police (east) Jasmeet Singh said that the farmers protesting at the Chilla (Delhi-Noida link road) have agreed to clear the carriageways and restore the movement of vehicles between Delhi and Noida.

Delhi police on Saturday said that the Delhi-Noida border at Chilla would be opened before midnight even as farmers continued protesting against the new farm laws.

Chaos at Delhi-Noida link road near Akshardham Temple after Delhi Traffic Police closed the link road for vehicular movement due to farmers' protest at Delhi-Noida- Chilla border, in New Delhi. (Ajay Aggarwal /HT PHOTO)

One carriage of the border between Delhi and Noida had been closed for the last two weeks after a group of farmers sat on protest. Deputy commissioner of police (east) Jasmeet Singh said that the farmers protesting at the Chilla (Delhi-Noida link road) have agreed to clear the carriageways and restore the movement of vehicles between Delhi and Noida.

Meanwhile, the Delhi-Jaipur highway blockade on Saturday, as announced by famers on Friday, did not impact traffic flow on the road as only a few farmers turned up for the blockade. A senior Delhi traffic police officer said the department was prepared to handle the situation even if more farmers had turned up. Also on Saturday, the vehicular movement was lower than usual.

“We had a contingency plan in place, but because we are constantly putting out traffic advisories on our social media pages and warning commuters to avoid the borders and adjacent roads, people are wary of these areas,” the officer said.

But Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav, who has been actively involved in the farmer protests, said on Saturday that farmers have started from their respective states to reach Delhi via the Delhi-Jaipur highway.

At present, with the ongoing protests, seven borders are completely closed. These are Singhu, Tikri, Auchandi, Jharoda, Piao Maniyari, and Mungeshpur in outer and south-western parts of the city and Chilla border, connecting Delhi and Noida, in east Delhi. Apart from the seven, the Delhi-Meerut Expressway at Ghazipur-Ghaziabad (UP Gate) is also closed to vehicles coming to Delhi, while the opposite carriageway is open. The service road of NH-24 at the UP Gate border are also closed.

Addressing protesters at the Ghazipur protest site on Saturday, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said questions over the “funding” of langars at protest sites were misleading. “We were eating at home as well. Our family members sent us here with food and told us to eat there and fight for our rights. When these gurdwaras fed people during the lockdown, they were praised. Now suddenly, they and their funding are being questioned.” Tikait also stressed that attempts to divide farmers group would be unsuccessful.

The BKU spokesperson said if anyone at the protest sites was found resorting to “anti-national activities”, the police and intelligence agencies should catch them. “We haven’t come across any such person and if we do, we would send them away,” he said, while responding to statements made by two Union ministers, who had said the farmers’ protest has been hijacked by “leftist, Maoist elements” and “anti-social elements.”

But social activist Medha Patkar, who joined farmers at Ghazipur on Saturday, said, “The government always tries to malign mass agitations like these. But that will not affect anything. This is a satyagraha and any citizen of the country can join in.”