By As many as seven borders connecting Delhi with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh remained completely closed on Monday due to the ongoingfarmers’ protest, causing traffic snarls and inconvenience to motorists in many parts of the city.
The borders that are completely shut are Singhu, Tikri, Auchandi, Piao Maniyari, Mangesh, Jharoda and Chilla. While the first six borders connect Delhi with Haryana, the Chilla border is used by people travelling between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, Greater Noida, Jewar, Mathura, Agra and Lucknow.
No new border was blocked by the protesting farmers who have been camping at the Haryana-Delhi and Uttar Pradesh-Delhi borders for the past 11 days.
On Monday, the Delhi Traffic Police also issued alerts and advisories on social media, informing commuters about the closure of the borders and the alternate routes they should be taking to avoid traffic jams.
“Singhu, Auchandi, Piao Maniyari, Mangesh borders are closed. NH 44 is closed on both sides. Take alternate routes via Lampur,Safiabad,Saboli borders. Traffic has been diverted from Mukarba and GTK road. Avoid Outer Ring Road, GTK road, NH44,” the traffic police tweeted.
The traffic police also updated that Tikri, Jharoda borders are closed for any traffic movement. It said that Badusarai border is open only for cars and two wheelers while Jhatikara border is open only for two wheeler traffic.
“Available open borders to Haryana are Dhansa, Daurala, Kapashera, Rajokri NH 8, Bijwasan/Bajghera, Palam Vihar and Dundahera borders,” the traffic police tweeted.
About the two borders in east Delhi, the traffic police said that the Ghazipur-Ghaziabad (UP Gate) border on Delhi-Meerut expressway is closed for traffic coming to Delhi from Ghaziabad. The service road of NH-24 connecting Delhi from Ghaziabad has also been closed since the protest started.
Those coming to Delhi from Ghaziabad side have been advised to avoid the expressway and NH-24 service lane. The traffic police have asked them to take Anand Vihar, Apsara, Bhopra borders for entering Delhi.
As far as the Chilla border on Delhi-Noida link road is concerned, the traffic police alert on Twitter seemed confusing. While the vehicular movement on both the carriageways (between Delhi and Noida) is shut due the farmers’ protest, the traffic police is only updating about the carriageway connecting Delhi from Noida.
“The Chilla border on Noida link road is closed for traffic from Noida to Delhi due to farmers protests near Gautam Budh Dwar. People are advised to avoid Noida link road for coming to Delhi and use DND,” the traffic police tweeted.
Since the Chilla border is completely blocked, the motorists are taking alternate borders such as Kalindi Kunj, DND, New Ashok Nagar, Kondli and Dallupura to travel between Delhi and Noida. Since these borders are narrow, bottlenecks have been reported with many office-goers stuck in the jams for several minutes.
A senior Delhi Traffic Police officer said, “We have increased the presence of traffic personnel at the congestion points, mostly on the borders to regulate the traffic movement manually.” The officer said that the traffic chaos would get over by noon but it is expected to worsen during the evening peak hours.
