Delhi-Gurgaon border in gridlock
New Delhi: The protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act halted traffic of Delhi-NCR on Thursday. The Delhi-Gurgaon route remained in gridlock as vehicles lined up for as long as 10 km on the expressway connecting the two cities. The massive traffic jam also resulted in a large number of flights being cancelled. The well-known as life-line of the national capital Delhi Metro Rail Services closed entry and exit gates of at least 20 stations for 8 hours in view of protests.
However, the Delhi Metro has now opened the entry and exit gates of most the 20 stations that were shut down since Thursday morning.
"Police have placed barricades and are checking vehicles coming from Gurgaon to Delhi due to which the traffic is affected on the stretch," the Delhi Traffic Police tweeted. Later in another tweet city police tweeted, "Road No. 13A between Mathura Road and Kalindi Kunj is closed for traffic movement. People coming from Noida are advised to take DND or Akshardham route to reach Delhi."
According to sources, there was information that a group of people from Mewat in the neighbouring Haryana going towards the national capital to join protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and against police action on the students of Jamia Millia Islamia after which barricading was placed.
With the police raising the barricades and just one lane open for checking vehicles around 8 am, many commuters took the wrong side to reach their destinations and ended up occupying the service lane as well. The traffic coming from Mahipalpur also got caught in the snarl. Within the national capital, traffic was heavy in the carriageway from Delhi Gate to GPO due to a protest, police said. Traffic was also affected on the Subhash Marg, Peeli Kothi, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Marg, Red Fort and Old Delhi Railway Station. Authorities tweeted regular updates on the traffic situation. M S Randhawa, Delhi Police PRO, said, there were proper checking at the bordering area.
Meanwhile, in Gurugram heavy barricading by Delhi Police at the Sirhaul toll plaza resulted in a massive traffic jam that extended up to 15 kilometres along the National Highway-8. Nearly three lakh vehicles pass through several intersections of the Delhi-Jaipur daily and the sealing of the border only resulted in more chaos and confusion among the commuters who had to wait for more than an hour to cover one kilometre.
The traffic snarls which began from Sirhaul the entry point to Gurugram extended to Hero Honda Chowk and beyond. To save themselves from getting stuck in the jam most of the commuters tried to select alternate routes like the Old Delhi road, Gurugram-Faridabad Road, MG Road and NH-48 to go to Delhi. The high density of vehicles resulted in a traffic jam even in these areas.
"Due to sealing of Delhi borders at NH48, MG road and Old Delhi-Gurugram road by Delhi Police, citizens are advised to avoid non-essential travel to Delhi. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted," was the official statement from Gurugram police. For many commuters, the traffic jam was worse than a nightmare as cars were stuck bumper-to-bumper.
How protestors reached Jantar Mantar
As many as 20 metro stations were closed during the protest but it did not hamper the spirit of protestors, people walked to Jantar Mantar to protest against CAA and NRC. They also used autorickshaws, cabs to reach the spot. Mipante and Chowmri, residents of Meghalaya, who lives in Delhi had reached the spot walking. "We are here to inform people that the condition of the North East is worse," said Mipante.
After police started detaining people at Mandi House and Red Fort areas, they got dispersed in small groups. One of the protestors told this Millenium Post that after deboarding at Janpath metro he walked to the spot. A group of people from Assam were also sitting at the spot and protesting against CAA.
Deputy Commissioner of police and PRO Mandeep Singh Randhawa said that there was proper deployment of police in the city due to which no untoward incident took place.
Flights affected due to protests
Nineteen IndiGo flights were cancelled and 16 others were delayed as crew members were stuck in a traffic jam on NH-8 due to anti-CAA protests on Thursday, a Delhi airport official said. Four airlines —Vistara, GoAir, Air India and IndiGo — announced
that their passengers, who were stuck in traffic due to anti-CAA protests in various parts of Delhi, will be adjusted in subsequent flights for no extra fees. GoAir stated on Thursday that it is offering waiver of fees
for rescheduling and cancellation to passengers travelling to or from Delhi on Thursday and Friday.
Jamia website hacked
The website of Jamia Millia Islamia was allegedly hacked on Thursday, and had a message supporting the students in their protest against the amended citizenship law posted on it. The message on the site read, "Hacked by Dark Knight to support Jamia students.. Jai Hind!"
Kalindi Kunj road connecting Noida and Delhi will remain closed today
The Kalindi Kunj road connecting Noida and Delhi will remain closed on Friday and commuters have been advised to opt for alternative routes, the Noida Traffic police said on Thursday evening.
