Vehicles queue up as Mohali borders close for farmers’ rally

There were traffic jams and diversions on Thursday as entry points at highways approaching Chandigarh were sealed for around 10 hours by the Mohali administration due to the farmers’ rally in protest of the laws cleared by the Centre for agricultural reforms.

As borders at Zirakpur, Dera Bassi and Lalru were sealed to prevent farmers from marching to Delhi to rally against the laws, long queues of vehicles stretched out for miles till late at night.

Sealed at 9.30 am by Mohali police, the Zirakpur border had not opened till the filing of this report at night, with no vehicles going towards Ambala.

Incoming traffic from Ambala was diverted at Dera Bassi towards Panchkula to reach Chandigarh. Similarly, outgoing traffic from Airport Road at the Patiala crossing was diverted towards Zirakpur and from there towards Panchkula-Nada Sahib-Barwala on to the Yamunanagar Expressway to reach Ambala and Delhi

“It took me nearly one hour to reach my office in Chandigarh, said Dhakoli resident Shivani Sharma.

Kamalpreet Singh Turka of Ambala, on his way to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research for a checkup, was stuck in traffic for nearly 50 minutes as “the situation was very bad from the Panchkula side.”

Commuters asked to use alternate routes

Meanwhile, the Mohali and Panchkula police departments issued traffic advisories asking commuters to take alternate routes to travel to Delhi.

Issuing prohibitory orders against the assembly of five or more persons besides a travel advisory, Panchkula police on Wednesday appealed to people to avoid movement towards Delhi and other cities, especially via NH-44, till Friday.

Chandigarh Transport Undertaking also suspended its interstate bus service on routes passing through Haryana till Friday, asking people to make enquiries before planning travel to Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.