Gurugram largely unaffected by Bharat Bandh

The Bharat Bandh call given by protesting farmers on Tuesday had minimal impact on life in the city. Traffic on key stretches leading to Delhi and public services

The Bharat Bandh call given by protesting farmers on Tuesday had minimal impact on life in the city. Traffic on key stretches leading to Delhi and public services remained largely unaffected, amid heavy police presence, even as 120 protesters who had gathered at Bilaspur Chowk were taken into preventive custody and released in the evening.

HT Image

Despite heavy barricading, traffic on arterial roads was thin as most residents, anticipating trouble, stayed indoors. The police said that the situation in Gurugram was better than other parts of NCR as not many local farmers had joined the protest and the police did not let protesters from other districts move on the arterial roads.

Around 200 people, including farmers, khap leaders and civil society members had gathered at Jharsa Chowk in Sector 32 to voice their support for farmers. The demonstration lasted for three hours and was peaceful.

The police had deployed 2,500 personnel and set up 123 checkpoints at the district borders with Nuh, Rewari and Faridabad to ensure better law and order situation. All major markets, including Sadar Bazar, remained open and the supply of essentials was not disrupted, according to the police and officials of the administration.

Astha Modi, the deputy commissioner of police (headquarters), said, “The volume of traffic was low since morning and despite checking and barricading, no congestion was reported from any of the borders. Our teams had checked over 200 vehicles throughout the day. Commuters faced no inconvenience on any stretch, including all 13 borders,” she said.

Special teams formed by the district administration and police were deployed from 7am to keep a check on supply points. “We had deployed force at vegetable and fruit mandis to ensure shops are not forced to shut,” she said.

The police, however, detained 120 people, including opposition leaders and Rajya Sabha MP, KK Ragesh, of CPI(M), for protesting at Bilaspur Chowk, 20 kilometres from Kherki Daula toll plaza, under the Preventive Detention Act. They were released in the evening, the police said.

Around 350 people from opposition parties, anganwadi workers, accredited social health activists (ASHA workers) and farmers from Punjab had gathered on the expressway and started raising slogans. The police said they had started marching towards the Bilaspur toll, due to which traffic movement was disrupted but was immediately resolved by the teams.

Satvir Singh, the vice-president of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Haryana, said that they were detained by the police and released on Tuesday evening, due to which they could not join the protest in Delhi. “We are supporting the farmers and had gathered at Bilaspur Chowk. Farmers from Punjab and leaders from CPI(M) had joined us on Tuesday morning and we had planned to march towards Delhi. We were expecting more people to join us, but the police caught hold of us, took us to a school and held hostage,” he said.

Nikita Gehlot, the deputy commissioner of police (Manesar), said that around 100 police personnel were deployed in the Bilaspur area, where the protestors had started gathering. “We did not let anyone cross the border and they were detained before they reached the border. The leaders were delivering speeches even during detention at a government school near Bilaspur Chowk. The situation was under control and commuters did not face any inconvenience,” she said.

On Tuesday, all major markets, such as Sadar Bazar, Galleria Market, Vyapar Kendra and Arcadia, operated as usual, with shopkeepers and associations distancing themselves from the farmers’ protests. In addition, operations at wholesale vegetable and fruit markets also remained normal.

Bablu Gupta, the president, Sadar Bazar market association, said that the market was open as no farmers of this belt were taking part in the ongoing protests. “The shopkeepers have already suffered huge losses during the lockdown and every day is important for all of us. Footfall was less as compared to other days, but people visited the market and did their shopping,” he said.

Regular vehicular movement continued on major arterial roads. Local transport and cab services were uninterrupted throughout the day. Commuters travelling in the city said that traffic volume was lower than usual and compared the situation on roads to those during the initial stages of the coronavirus outbreak.

“I had to drop my mother at New Delhi Railway station. The (ticket) booking was made last month so I did not cancel the travel plan. There was hardly any traffic on the stretch and I reached station within 25 minutes after crossing the border,” said Sandeep Singh, a resident of Sohna Road.

Further, personnel in 50 police control room vans and 150 bikes were stationed at strategic points of the National Highway 48, between Panchgaon and Sirhaul toll, to ensure smooth traffic flow and check gatherings on the main carriageway.

“Even though Gurugram district does not have a sizeable farmer’s presence, we realised that a possibility of protesters passing through the city to the national capital remained high and, as such, there could be situations of unrest. Hence, directions were issued in advance to all government bodies concerned, to stay on alert and undertake requisite measures to keep the situation under control. By taking necessary advance measures and executing strategic deployment, the situation of law and order in Gurugram largely remained as usual,” said Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner.

Thousands of farmers have gathered at Delhi’s borders to protest against the three farm laws that were enacted in September and had given a call for a nationwide bandh on Tuesday.