On Monday morning, the closure of a crucial border stretch between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh due to the Bharat Bandh resulted in increased traffic flow on other routes connecting the two states. Traffic on the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) and Chilla roads has slowed since the national highway between Ghaziabad and Nizamuddin in Delhi has been closed, according to a traffic police official in Noida.
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The expressways connecting Greater Noida to the interior districts of Uttar Pradesh, such as Mathura, Agra, Aligarh, and Lucknow, including the Yamuna Expressway, are open, and traffic is flowing freely, according to the official. However, when people depart the highway and proceed towards Delhi, vehicle progress is hampered owing to increasing traffic on adjacent roads.
According to the Noida traffic police, commuters travelling to or from Delhi should avoid routes that pass through Ghazipur in neighbouring Ghaziabad. Since November last year, police have set up barricades on the highway near the UP Gate, a protest location for the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).
“Due to the Bharat Bandh call, no one is permitted to travel from this road between Delhi and Ghaziabad,” Superintendent of Police Gyanendra Singh stated. Apart from the UP Gate on the Ghazipur border, all three Delhi-Ghaziabad borders – Anand Vihar, Dilshad Garden-Apsara Cinema, and Tulsi Niketan – are open, according to the SP.
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The Bharat Bandh has been called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella organisation of over 40 farmers’ unions leading the 10-month-old movement to repeal three controversial farm laws. The bandh starts at 6 a.m. and will go until 4 p.m.
