Huge gridlock at UP-Delhi border as cops intensify checking, barricade e-way

Thousands of commuters were stranded for hours in a huge gridlock at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border on Wednesday owing to stricter checking by the police and the barricading

Thousands of commuters were stranded for hours in a huge gridlock at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border on Wednesday owing to stricter checking by the police and the barricading of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway that diverted all traffic to a single carriageway towards Delhi.

Snarls stretched for kilometres at the Delhi-UP border near Ghazipur

The snarls, commuters say, began around 9am and led to long tailbacks that stretched even into the internal roads of Ghaziabad.

The problem was further compounded by toll collection from commercial vehicles on the same road where the police check posts were placed. Hundreds of motorists took over 40 minutes to cross the Ghazipur border. The congestion finally cleared up by 2pm, after the Delhi Police eased up on checks.

On Monday, the Delhi government had sealed the national capital borders to protect its health care resources even as Covid-19 cases in the city crossed the 20,000-mark. Ghaziabad had placed similar restrictions since April 22, citing a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the district which were linked to residents who had travelled to Delhi.

On Tuesday, the police had gone easy on the checking, allowing into Delhi almost everyone. The scene, however, was different on Wednesday.

Early morning, police placed concrete bollards on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, blocking the entry of vehicles into Delhi. Motorists coming from Meerut, Ghaziabad, Indirapuram, Raj Nagar and even Noida, found themselves stuck in long snarls, as the entire traffic was redirected to a single carriageway to Delhi.

“I had to reach the Supreme Court for urgent work and got stuck in the jam for almost an hour. There was a long queue of vehicles ahead of me,” Shashi Shekhar, an advocate from Indirapuram, said.

Both Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police personnel deployed at the border blamed each other for blocking the expressway flyover. But that was not the end of the commuters’ woes. Below the flyover, the police placed barricades and opened only one lane to motorists.

While the move allowed the police to check the passes of a large number of motorists entering Delhi, it caused a bottleneck and resulted in the jam getting longer.

The Ghaziabad police said the checking of vehicles by the Delhi Police led to the jams. “The Delhi Police were checking vehicles, slowing down traffic. We had long queues on the Ghaziabad side. On our side, we were checking vehicles entering Ghaziabad from Delhi,” Anshu Jain, circle officer (Indirapuram), said.

Among vehicles stranded in the gridlock were ambulances destined for Delhi.

“I am carrying a critical patient to AIIMS from UP’s Sambhal. Our entire journey till Indirapuram was smooth. But from there onwards, the traffic was thick. We got stuck in the jam for more than 45 minutes,” the ambulance driver, who refused to share his name, said.

“I have a train to catch to my hometown in Uttar Pradesh from New Delhi railway station. I may miss the train if I am stuck in the jam for another 15-20 minutes,” Navin Verma, a student travelling in an auto-rickshaw from Noida’s Secto 58, said.

When the situation threatened to go out of control, around 11am, the police decided to lift the barricades and let vehicles pass through without any checking. The Expressway flyover, however, continued to remain blocked. The chaos continued till around 2pm, after which the police relaxed the checking to avoid further congestion.

“Initially, we were only checking vehicles intermittently to spare commuters the inconvenience. But when many complaints were received that no checking was being done at the border, we put up barricades and increased the checking. That caused long snarls. Later, we relaxed the checking to avoid further congestion,” deputy commissioner of police (east) Jasmeet Singh said.