Hundreds turn up at Delhi-Gurugram borders, are stopped, turned back

Hundreds of daily wage workers were not allowed to cross the Sirhaul border on Friday morning, following which they tried to enter Delhi through the Dundahera border,

Hundreds of daily wage workers were not allowed to cross the Sirhaul border on Friday morning, following which they tried to enter Delhi through the Dundahera border, from where too they were back.

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. The Haryana government on Thursday had issued orders to reseal the borders with Delhi in order to contain the spread of Covid-19.

On Friday, barricades were placed at all border crossings into the national capital, restricting the movement of vehicles and pedestrians on both carriageways.

Motorists, cyclists and pedestrians huddled together after they were all asked to stop as soon as they crossed the Rajokri border. Some commuters got into a tiff with the police personnel after being denied entry, while many others were spotted trying to reason with the policemen on duty, telling them that they had already suffered salary loss of two months and if the situation remained the same , they will not be unable to survive.

A number of daily wage labourers said they were shocked to see heavy police deployment on the borders on Friday morning and that they were stopped 500 metres before the barricading that had been put in place to restrict entry into Gurugram and were asked to return.

Bhushan Sharma, a daily wage labourer who works in Udyog Vihar, said that they had resumed work after two months and for the last one week had not been stopped at the border. But on Friday again, they were not allowed to enter. “Police are asking us for passes, but we don’t know how and where to apply. If we do not join work, how will we make our ends meet. It’s becoming very difficult to survive without any income,” he said.

Karan Goel, the assistant commissioner of police (DLF), said, “We are checking with factories, which the labourers have mentioned, to see if they have permissions to operate. Industries that have permissions from the district administration to operate have been directed to make arrangements for the stay of their workers , who will not be allowed to move in and out of the city,” he said.

Some workers on Friday tried to dodge the police barricades and cross the border walking. But they were stopped and turned back, following which they went to the Dundahera border to try and cross over, but were denied entry.

According to the police,a crowd of at least 1,500 people — mostly daily wage earners working in Udyog Vihar — had gathered on foot and on bi- cycles near the border around 9.30 am, demanding entry into the city.

Goel said since the border was sealed, having a movement pass was mandatory to commute through inter-state borders on a daily basis. After crossing the border with a movement pass, it is the responsibility of the employers to make arrangements for the stay of workers within the company or factories.

The police commissioner of Gurugram, Muhammad Akil, said the challenge is to control unnecessary vehicular movement. “Our teams asked them to return, due to which they blocked the road and did not allow those behind to move or even reverse their vehicles, resulting in traffic congestion,” he said.

Starting Friday, the police have been directed not to let any motorist cross the city border unless they have a movement pass.