Major arterial stretches entering the city and border points remained chock-a-block after the Delhi Police put up several barricades in view of the Bharat Bandh protests by Congress over the Centre’s Agnipath scheme on Monday.
Some of the border points, including entry points like Noida via DND, Delhi-Gurugram Expressway, Ghazipur and Chilla Border saw long queues of vehicles.
Several areas in Lutyens’ Delhi and areas like Connaught Place, Barapullah corridor, Jantar Mantar, Vikas Marg, Ring Road and ITO saw heavy commuter traffic due to the protests. Commuters from Gurugram and Noida too faced traffic snarls while entering the city.
Roads leading to Lutyens’ Delhi were heavily barricaded by the police in view of the security situation due to the Agnipath protests, forcing commuters to take alternate routes.
The Delhi police also deployed its staff at various border checkpoints and carried out intensive checking of vehicles, causing a further pile-up of vehicles. Several videos showing traffic congestion at Delhi's border points went viral on social media on Monday.
Congress workers were detained by the security personnel when they halted a train at Delhi’s Shivaji Bridge Railway Station during the Bharat Bandh on Monday. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Protesters halt train
Meanwhile, causing further inconvenience to commuters travelling by train, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers on Monday stopped a train at Shivaji Bridge Railway Station near Connaught Place to protest against the Agnipath scheme and the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) questioning of Rahul Gandhi regarding the National Herald money laundering case.
The track was later cleared by the police and security personnel and train movement resumed after around half-an-hour.
Congress workers detained
Several Congress workers were also detained while holding twin protests over the Agnipath scheme and ED's questioning of Rahul Gandhi at Jantar Mantar.
Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order Zone II) Sagar Preet Hooda said 178 workers and leaders, including Congress MLA Ganesh Ghogra, were detained under Section 65 of the Delhi Police Act for for violating the prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC and protesting at Jantar Mantar on Monday against Rahul Gandhi’s ED summons. Another 57 protesters were detained under the same Act for staging a demonstration against the Agnipath scheme across several parts of the city.
Congress party workers staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Monday against Rahul Gandhi’s ED summons. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
“The permission to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar was granted for a gathering up to 1,000 party workers with certain conditions. The party workers exceeding the permitted numbers were directed to leave the area in view of Section 144 CrPC in force and the violators were detained in order to maintain law and order,” Mr. Hooda said.
The Delhi police also received a separate request from Congress to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar on Monday against the scheme. The Special CP said, “Permission was not granted keeping in view the law and order in place.”
The bandh's impact was, however, not seen in markets such as Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar and Palika Bazaar, with traders bodies saying that the footfall was normal throughout the day.
Several protests are being carried out in various parts of the country against Agnipath, which was introduced last Tuesday. It proposes the recruitment of youngsters aged between 17-and-a-half and 21 years into the Army, Navy and Air Force on a four-year contract basis. The upper age limit was later relaxed to 23.
