Nearly a 350-metre stretch on the Ashoka Road, along with the BJP’s headquarters in its median, was turned into a forbidden zone for the common man, besides deploying heavy police force in the area eight days ago.
“It shall continue to be so at least until December 24, which is a day after the winter session of the parliament culminates,” said Vijay Singh, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi).
Singh took charge of the New Delhi district of Delhi Police at the beginning of December.
He further said the move was taken after police received an intelligence input over threat lingering over the BJP headquarter.
He also added the barricades were put up near the round about at Windsor Place and Panchamukhi Chowk immediately after the alert was received.
“The barricading is not supposed to cause too much inconvenience to commuters as the other end of both the round about are open and vehicles can be diverted accordingly to avoid the blocked zone,” Singh assured.
However, no traffic advisory was issued by the Delhi Traffic Police before the step was taken. Joint commissioner of police (Traffic), Anil Shukla, said that the decision was made “spontaneously” and it was the concerned district police who had made the call.
It has been noticed that for security reasons, the barricades are often extended till the C-Hexagon at India Gate, making Ashoka Road a ‘no entry zone’, which causes inconvenience to commuters. “Travelling from India Gate to Patel Chowk does cost few extra miles if Ashoka Road is closed. It sometimes causes severe inconvenience”, said a regular commuter.
He further said, “I don’t remember 24, Akbar Road (Congress headquarters) being fortified like this. But time has changed since then. However, there’s hardly any traffic witnessed in Lutyen’s zone these days.”
“It shall continue to be so at least until December 24, which is a day after the winter session of the parliament culminates,” said Vijay Singh, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi).
Singh took charge of the New Delhi district of Delhi Police at the beginning of December.
He further said the move was taken after police received an intelligence input over threat lingering over the BJP headquarter.
He also added the barricades were put up near the round about at Windsor Place and Panchamukhi Chowk immediately after the alert was received.
“The barricading is not supposed to cause too much inconvenience to commuters as the other end of both the round about are open and vehicles can be diverted accordingly to avoid the blocked zone,” Singh assured.
However, no traffic advisory was issued by the Delhi Traffic Police before the step was taken. Joint commissioner of police (Traffic), Anil Shukla, said that the decision was made “spontaneously” and it was the concerned district police who had made the call.
It has been noticed that for security reasons, the barricades are often extended till the C-Hexagon at India Gate, making Ashoka Road a ‘no entry zone’, which causes inconvenience to commuters. “Travelling from India Gate to Patel Chowk does cost few extra miles if Ashoka Road is closed. It sometimes causes severe inconvenience”, said a regular commuter.
He further said, “I don’t remember 24, Akbar Road (Congress headquarters) being fortified like this. But time has changed since then. However, there’s hardly any traffic witnessed in Lutyen’s zone these days.”