Morcha barricades irk motorists

Mohali, April 1

Residents and road users in Phase 7, 8, 9 and YPS chowk faced inconvenience as police barricaded several places due to a protest by the Quami Insaaf Morcha. It forced people to take long detours to reach their destinations ahead of the IPL match at the PCA stadium here this afternoon.

Heavy police force, including senior officials, was deployed near Gurdwara Amb Sahib, Phase 7-8 light points and YPS chowk.

Mohali SP (Rural) Navpreet Singh Virk said: “As many as 10 persons coming from the morcha site were detained as they were trying to sneak in towards the PCA stadium. They were released around 7 pm.”

Traffic was diverted towards Sector 63 at the Chandigarh-Mohali border on the Jail Road. The police said barricading was done to maintain law and order ahead of the protest by the Quami Insaaf Morcha near Gurdwara Amb Sahib.

The activists staged a protest on the road and vacated the place around 3:30 pm. Several roads in Phase 7 and 9 were barricaded as the protest site and IPL match venue were in the vicinity. Serpentine queues of slow moving vehicles were witnessed on roads. The police also barricaded the road dividing Sectors 64 and 65 near the stadium.