A day after the Delhi government decided to seal its borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, hundreds of office-goers from the neighbouring States, including those with valid e-passes and medical appointments, remained stuck in traffic for hours at the entry points to the Capital on Tuesday.
As long lines of vehicles formed, several people were seen reasoning with the police as they were not allowed to enter the national capital. The police said they were only allowing Delhi residents and those with government-approved identification cards. Some people were not even aware that the borders were sealed when the Delhi government announced several relaxations in the lockdown norms starting Monday.
Though the traffic remained heavy at Bhopura, Ghazipur, Chilla, and DND along Uttar Pradesh borders, it was less chaotic than the situation on Monday.
At DND, vehicles were checked and those not having e-passes, especially motorcyclists, were told to turn back.
Prerit Mehta, a resident of Noida, said that he had to go to his office in west Delhi for urgent work but wasn’t allowed.
However, the checking was intermittently relaxed to prevent long snarls and chaos. A traffic police officer, deployed at the Delhi-U.P. border, said: “We are checking strictly but if it leads to long queues we let a few vehicles pass with a cursory check.” The officer added that they were even letting people with genuine reasons to cross even if they were without e-passes. It was a similar situation at Delhi-Gurugram border on National Highway-48 with long traffic snarls stretching several hundred metres during the morning rush hours. The traffic was allowed to enter Gurugram without checking.
Later in the day, the Gurugram district administration also issued orders stating that the restrictions on the cross-border movement between the two cities would remain. “Inter-State movement shall continue to be regulated by previous orders and mechanisms in this regard,” said the orders.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal said his government had decided to open borders with all States but Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal then decided to shut its borders. “Even as per the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines, the opening of borders is a matter of mutual understanding between the two states,” said Mr. Lal, replying to a query during a digital address to the State residents. He added that Haryana had opened borders with all neighbouring States.
However, the traffic between Delhi and Gurugram moved unhindered during the daytime. Delhi Police Assistant Sub-Inspector J.K. Tanwar, deployed at Delhi-Gurugram border, said the traffic volume had gone up since the lockdown 4.0 and physical checking of every vehicle for e-passes all through the day could lead to long snarls. He said that commuters were asked to show their movement passes in the morning, the checking during the day was mostly random. He claimed that most of the commuters were carrying the e-passes or cited medical emergency during the checking.
(With inputs from Hemani Bhandari and agencies)
