NCR commuters face traffic snarls as Delhi turned into fortress to thwart farmers' entry

As thousands of farmers embarked on the 'Delhi Chalo' march towards the national capital, traffic in Delhi-NCR came to a standstill after police heightened security on the borders.

New Delhi:Commuters in Delhi-NCR had a harrowing experience on Tuesday morning due to the traffic snarls caused by the police barricades across the national capital to foil the farmers' 'Delhi Chalo' march to press for their various demands. Traffic was seen crawling at a snail's pace in Delhi-NCR as multiple layers of barricades dotted the borders at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.

The barricades manned by heavy contingents of Delhi Police personnel were set up to foil the farmers' march to the national capital. Due to the barricades, commuters had a tough time to reach their respective destination with the travel time stretched by hours together due to the traffic jams. Delhi Police have beefed up security and barricades to foil the march.

Multi-layer barricades, concrete blocks, iron nails and walls of containers dotted the roads across Delhi to prevent farmers throng the national capital. The march has been called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha with more than 200 farmer unions across the country heading to Delhi to press the Centre to accept their demands, including the enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

Speaking about the bumper to bumper traffic on Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri borders since early morning, Julie Lawrance, who was stuck in the jam for at least an hour, said, "I knew about the farmers' march scheduled today and left for office an hour early from my house in Gurugram's Sector 29. Seeing the traffic situation, it seems I will reach my office in central Delhi a couple of hours late, despite starting early”.

Another commuter, Kritika Sharma, said she had started for office at 6 am but even by 9 am, was still stuck in a jam. Both at Singhu and Tikri borders, there were long queues of vehicles due to heavy barricading and police checking. Sources said that over two lakh people travel between Delhi and Gurgaon each day during working hours.

However, due to the police barricades to foil the farmers protest march, only two vehicles were able to pass at the Ghazipur border where police had blocked the link roads and vehicles moved in a single queue.