CPI leader’s detention leads to protests, traffic jams

Over a thousand factory workers laid siege to Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon on Thursday after the police detained All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) leader Gurdas Dasgupta at the Delhi-Gurgaon toll plaza.

Over a thousand factory workers laid siege to Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon on Thursday after the police detained All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) leader Gurdas Dasgupta at the Delhi-Gurgaon toll plaza.

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Dasgupta was going to address workers at a factory on National Highway-8.

The Communist Party of India leader was detained because Section 144 was clamped in the state in view of the coming assembly elections, the police said.

The section prohibits a gathering of more four people at one place.

As the workers marched towards the police commissioner’s office to protest the communist leader’s detention, the police intercepted them at Rajiv Chowk.

This resulted in a massive traffic jam on all service lanes of the Gurgaon Expressway for more than two hours.

The jam spilled over to rest of the city and all arterial roads connecting the Expressway were clogged during the evening peak hours.

At some places, the vehicles moved at a speed of one km per hour.

The agitating workers, who were surrounded by police personnel and paramilitary forces, moved from Rajiv Chowk after the police assured them that Dasgupta had been released.

Anil Kumar, AITUC leader, said Dasgupta was supposed to address workers at the RIICO factory gates on the expressway at 4.00 pm. Thousands of workers from all over Gurgaon had assembled to listen to him.

Senior officials reached Rajiv Chowk with armed personnel. Around 8.55 pm, the workers started dispersing after the police assured them Dasgupta had been allowed to go back to Delhi.