Delhi Police remove barricades from Singhu border service lane

Mukesh Tandon

Sonepat, February 24

Giving relief to thousands of commuters, the Delhi police on Saturday started opening up service lanes at the Singhu border on NH-44, which were sealed for the past 12 days due to ongoing farmers’ protest.

In the first phase, the Delhi police removed concrete walls, cemented barricades, barbed fencing and barricades from the service lane on the Panipat-Delhi road under the flyover.

The Delhi police had put up 10-12 layers of barricading to block entry through the Singhu border due to the ongoing clashes between farmers and security forces at Shambhu and Khanauri borders.

The border had been sealed at the flyover on both sides of service lanes. The Delhi police sealed the border with concrete boulders, iron and cemented barricades, big containers filled with soil and sand, and constructed cemented walls to stop the protestors.

According to sources, the Delhi police decided to only open one service lane so far. The opening up of other lanes would only be decided upon after gauging the situation on February 29.

After getting hopes of resolution on the situation, and regular demands by industrialists, local representatives, business organisations, labourer organisations and others, police authorities began removing barricades with the help of earth movers and JCBs.

The Delhi police also opened link roads for commuters to reach Delhi. People were commuting through Safiabad-Narela, Jati and Dahisara roads to reach Delhi, where they faced long queues. Kundli Industrialists’ Association president Subhash Gupta said the Delhi police started opening service lanes today. Sonepat DC Manoj Kumar said the police had started opening service lanes in the evening.