Lockdown 3.0: More Cars on Roads, Queues at Borders

NEW DELHI:
On the first day of lockdown 3.0 on Monday, the streets of the national capital saw more cars, traffic jams at a few places and even arguments over validity of passes. Mostly, jams were seen ahead of police pickets and borders which remained for one and a half hours, during the peak office hour.

Monday was the first office working day after a prolonged lockdown when Delhi roads started to see peacocks and neelgais invading it. Monday” traffic snarls were a sign of the slow paced return to ”normalcy”.

On Monday, the maximum crowd was seen at the Delhi-Noida (Akshardham Road, Delhi-Gurugram and Delhi-Ghaziabad (Ghazipur) borders. The crowd was significant at the three borders around 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. Hundreds of pass holders were seen confronting police over disputes over the validity of passes which eventually slowed down traffic.

Arguments were witnessed between police and drivers on Monday morning at the Noida-Akshardham border and Noida border on the Delhi-Dallupura Road. While the Noida administration was adamant on allowing only those vehicles which had passes okayed by the Noida DM, many Delhi residents insisted on entering Noida on passes issued by the Delhi Police.

The same conditions were seen on both the borders of Delhi-Gurugram (Delhi-Mehrauli Road and National Highway 8 Delhi-Jaipur Road). However, police of both the states were deployed on both sides. Even this didn”t stop arguments. Many vehicle drivers entering the other side were seen facing trouble due to the old valid date on the curfew passes.

Meanwhile, a Ghaziabad DM office spokesperson said, “The DM office has informed the police stationed on the border and in the rest of the district, that if any government employee, doctor, media person shows their card, then he or she should be allowed to come across the border.”

Slow moving vehicles forming a long queue were spotted in Delhi”s Moolchand area. Amid announcements to be mindful of social distancing, many office-goers had a taste of Delhi”s chaotic traffic after more than a month. Similar scenes were witnessed near Aya Nagar border and Lodhi Colony Police picket around 9.30 a.m.

However, Southern District DCP Atul Kumar Thakur played it down saying, “We won”t call it a jam. The situation arose because it was a Monday and the first working day of Lockdown 3.0. We also had to ensure social distancing. We were deliberately keeping the cars distant from each other which is why the queue seemed long.”

Jhauda and Tikri borders are in the western range, connecting Haryana-Delhi. But there was no crowd to be seen there in the morning because the maximum number of people coming from Haryana to Delhi and returning from Delhi to Haryana are at the Gurugram border.

According to Shalini Singh, Joint Commissioner of Police of Western Range, “There was no jam on our Haryana-Delhi Frontier Border because the number of people coming to office from these areas is negligible.”

The Narela Alipore (Kundli Haryana Border) also did not see a jam. Traffic remained normal even in the morning. Most people did not leave their homes. DCP Outer North District Gaurav Sharmasaid, “Even though it was the first day of the lockdown 3.0, most preferred to stay inside. They may have wanted to know the ground situation first, through the media before stepping out. Perhaps that is why the border was not crowded.”