Panipat residents move Delhi High Court against Singhu border blockade

Tribune News Service

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, April 18

Enraged over the blockade on the Singhu border for more than two months, three residents of Panipat have filed a writ petition against the Centre and Delhi Government in the Delhi High Court. The petitioners requested the High Court that the extensive blockade on the Singhu border (NH-44) be removed.

The three petitioners — Shankar Mor of Lateef Garden, Sachin Aneja of Aggarsain Colony and Shivam Dhamija of Rair Kalan, through their advocates Mohit Gupta, Sachin Miglani and others — filed a writ petition in which they said that after the failure of the talks between the farmers’ organisations and the Union Government, the farmers had planned a protest march to Delhi on February 13. To stop the farmers from reaching Delhi, the Centre and the Delhi Government had made various security arrangements by putting extensive roadblocks and barricading at the Singhu border between Haryana and Delhi.

The petitioners said the border had been blocked without providing or facilitating any alternative routes for safe and smooth passage. Due to this, the people travelling from Delhi to Haryana or vice versa had to take ancillary and capillary roads through nearby villages. Most of these roads were broken and driving on these roads was quite dangerous.

They further said even after more than two months, the respondents had blocked the road at Singhu border, leading to massive traffic jams, causing great inconvenience to the public at large.

People travelling to Delhi from Haryana for medical treatment were among the worst-affected commuters. The petitioners were working in Delhi and Gurugram and they had to travel to Panipat for work and business, but due to the road blockade and frequent traffic jams, they never reach their destinations on time.

Miglani said the matter had been listed for further hearing on April 22.

Delhi police begin removing barricades

The Delhi Police on Thursday began removing barricades on the main flyover at the Singhu border with the help of JCB machines. It had set up multi-layer barricading on the Singhu border and service lanes on NH-44 and sealed it by using concrete blocks and containers filled with soil on February 13 due to the farmers’ protest. The Delhi Police had already opened the service lanes of the flyover on February 26, but the commuters were forced to negotiate huge traffic jams on both service lanes. The people were demanding that the border be opened.

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