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Normal traffic to resume in a few days as farmers vacate borders
Police officers said that National Highway Authority of India officials have been asked to inspect the roads at the protest sites before they are opened for the public.
As the farmers have started returning home from the three protest sites — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — senior Delhi Police officers said they are coordinating with concerned agencies and administrations of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to clear the blockades for resuming vehicular movements through the three borders.
“We have started the process of removing the barricades and blockades that were placed on the Delhi side. The concerned stakeholders have been intimated about the developments and asked to take necessary steps to open the three borders. We are trying to open the borders and resume traffic on the roads as early as possible,” said special commissioner of police (law and order, north zone) Dependra Pathak.
Police officers said that National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials have been asked to inspect the roads at the protest sites before they are opened for the public.
“At many places roads were dug and filled with concrete materials to install iron spikes. The farmers had built concrete structures on the roads while at several places holes were made in the roads to erect iron pipes to set up tents. All these issues need to be addressed by the concerned agencies,” said an officer.
In October, the Delhi Police removed some concrete barriers, concertina wires and spikes from near the farmer agitation spots in Ghazipur (Delhi-Ghaziabad border) and also from Tikri (Delhi-Haryana border) to restore vehicular movement to some extent. The move came after the Supreme Court on October 21 observed that protesters cannot block public roads indefinitely.
By Saturday evening, around 70-80% farmers had vacated the Singhu (Delhi-Haryana border) protest site. At Singhu border, several large langar camps and metallic sheds were still intact and it might take more time and heavy machinery for their removal. The main protest stage of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and surrounding enclosures were also intact and the highway remained strewn with concrete slabs, broken embankments and damaged roads. Moreover, the concrete embankment, iron spikes embedded on road and a series of barricades and shipping containers used by the Delhi police to block the road opposite the farmers’ protest camp, also remain intact.
A few protesters said they will leave Singhu border by Monday. Kashmir Singh, 39, who hails from Tarn Taran in Punjab, said their convoy will leave the site on Monday as they plan to keep running a langar for the remaining people. “We have been staying here since November 29, last year. We will stay for another couple of days so that no one is left hungry. Some people are still waiting for their trucks to arrive,” Singh said.
Avtar Singh, who runs ‘Kisan Mazdoor Ekta hospital’ on the Singhu border, said the hospital will be removed on Monday. “We will provide the medical help till the last remaining farmer on Singhu border. We have treated around 6,000 emergency cases during the protest,” Singh said, adding they are focusing on clearing the rubble around the hospital. “We will clean everything around our hospital and safely dispose of all the junk.”
At Tikri, nearly 80-90% of the farmers had vacated the protest site. Only a few tents and skeletal structures remained at the site and were expected to be cleared up in the next few days. Huge concrete boulders that had been placed to prevent the movement of farmers into Delhi were also being dismantled using JCB machines by police officials on Saturday.
Sunil Singh, who runs a chemist shop next to the protest stretch, said he had incurred financial losses during the last year due to the blockade. “Huge concrete boulders are placed on the road. Until these are cleared up and the road opened for traffic, the situation will not be restored to normal. We are hoping that authorities clear up the remains soon so that our business gets back on track,” said Singh.
