Schoolkids, patients bear brunt as stir brings traffic to halt

Residents and road users in Mohali endured a chaotic day with snarl-ups, detours and barricaded borders along Chandigarh turning the daily commuter into a difficult ordeal. Heavy rush was witnessed on all major roads, with the Chandigarh-Mohali National Highway, Airport Road, Chandigarh-Zirakpur National Highway facing the major brunt of the protest at Panjab University.

Since morning, Chandigarh Police barricaded its border with Mohali to stop the influx of protesters to the varsity, resulting in daylong traffic jam and inconvenience to the Tricity residents. Road users said it was near to impossible to enter or exit Chandigarh.

The road from Sector 39 to Sector 47 remained clogged with vehicles being stranded for more than two hours.

From Phase 6 to Phase 11 in Mohali, entry or exit at the border points of two cities also remained a hassle. Vehicles trickled in from one side to another at barely one or two points, that too after hours of struggle in the snarls. In the afternoon, school buses and parents on the way to pick up their children were stuck in traffic jams on both sides.

Mohali resident Avtar Singh Walia said, “It took me two and a half hour to reach Sector 26 from Mohali to pick up my child from school. There is total chaos on Mohali roads since morning till afternoon.”

Besides, ambulances too struggled to find their way to the hospital on clogged roads near Phase 6. Tippers lined up at the Chandigarh-Mohali border in Phase 6 since the morning, leading to a massive traffic jam and inconvenience to incoming patients and visitors at the two major hospitals.

Mohali resident Jagdish Chander said, “Mohali police is not stopping protesters but Chandigarh police is barricading roads, laying barbed wires and using force against protesters.”

“What do we citizens make of this situation while being stuck on roads for no fault of ours? It is absurd and complete mockery of law and order. Protesters squatting on roads outside hospitals and claiming to be fighting for the democratic right of Punjabis. The police, on the other hand, is putting up barricades on road in the name of maintaining law and order,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, supporters of the Balbir Singh Rajewal-led SKM Non Political were involved in a standoff with Chandigarh Police over barricades and blockades on the road.