Singhu border fully functional after 404 days

In what has come as a relief to thousands of commuters, the Delhi Police on Monday removed all barricades and debris from the Singhu border after 404 days, paving the way for the smooth flow of traffic.

MLA Nikhil Madaan visited the Singhu border to review the situation and said the BJP government had made the national highway fully operational.

The Delhi Police had barricaded the border on NH-44 on February 13 last year following the farmers’ protest 2.0. The police had sealed the main carriageway and service lanes on both sides of NH-44 with multi-layer barricades to stop the farmers from proceeding to Delhi. The Haryana Police stopped the farmers at the Shambhu border.

The police had reopened service lanes, and later opened single lanes on the main carriageway (flyover) on March 13 last year, but two lanes on each side were barricaded for over a year.

Due to the blockade, people were forced to face jams for hours daily. But after the eviction of protesting farmers from the Shambhu border, the Delhi Police also removed the barricades from the Singhu border within four days. They completely cleared the carriageway at the Singhu border on the Delhi-Panipat lane and made it motorable on Sunday.

However, the barricades have also been removed from the Panipat-Delhi lane, and debris was removed on Monday. The road is now fully functional.

Subhash Gupta, director, Kundli Industrial Association (KIA), said the Singhu border had been opened and there was no jam on the carriageway. Thousands of commuters, industrialists, employees in private and government jobs would benefit, he said.

Madaan, who also asked for opening the lanes at the Singhu border during the ongoing Assembly session, said, “With the complete opening of the border, lakhs of people going to Delhi would get a relief from the long jams, as would industrialists, workers, traders and farmers of the region.”