After over 11 months of being blocked because of the farmers’ agitation against Central farm laws, Delhi Police on Friday started removing barricades and cemented blocks put up at the Ghazipur and Tikri borders.
The stretch was shut for over 11 months ever since the farmers’ agitation started and had been inconveniencing commuters. The process of opening the roads has been started from one side of the carriageway for vehicles going from Ghaziabad to New Delhi at the Ghazipur border. At Ghazipur, Delhi Police initiated the action early on Friday and removed all barricades and barbed wires to open the roads.
The Delhi Police started the process of removing barricades placed at the Tikri border on Thursday, allowing traffic movement from New Delhi to Haryana. The barricades were placed in the wake of the 26 January violence during the farmers’ protest.
Thousands of protestors broke barricades to enter Delhi and indulged in vandalism across several parts of the national capital during their tractor rally organised to protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws on January 26 this year.
Police personnel at the spot said, “The barricades are being removed, the route is being opened. We have received the orders.”
Dependra Pathak, Special CP Law and Order said, “It’s the Delhi Police initiative and we are removing the block which we’ve placed. We will request farmers so that this highway is opened for people. We are hoping our gesture will be reciprocated by farmers.”
DCP East Priyanka Kashyap confirmed the developments and said the stretch will be opened for vehicular traffic soon.
“The barricades were put up on 26 January to maintain law and order in the border areas but now it is being removed. It is NH9, we are opening that. NH 24 will also be opened,” said Kashyap.
Meanwhile, the barricades and cemented blocks have still not been removed from the Singhu border and the road remains closed for commuters.
The farmers’ unions, however, said their protests will continue and that they were not the ones who blocked the roads in the first place.
The police had placed barricades on the roads, along with giant nails and huge concrete blocks, when farmers converged on various border crossing points around the capital in November last year to protest against the Centre’s three agricultural laws.
Earlier on 21 October, the Supreme Court said that farmers have the right to protest but roads cannot be blocked indefinitely. This came while hearing a plea against the blockade of roads between Delhi to Noida due to farmers’ protests against the three farm laws.
Farmers have been protesting at different sites since 26 November last year against the three enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.