Farmers Protest Blockade: ’Left home hour early, will still reach late’, say commuters amid Delhi traffic snarls

Traffic crawled at a snail's pace in Delhi-NCR on Tuesday morning as police placed multiple layers of barricades on the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders in view of the farmers' march to the national capital.

Commuters had a harrowing time as they battled traffic jams, with Delhi being turned into a fortress to thwart the entry of farmers.

In view of the 'Delhi Chalo' march, the police have intensified security at the city's border points with multi-layer barricades, concrete blocks, iron nails and walls of containers.

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The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have announced that more than 200 farmer unions would head to Delhi to press the Centre to accept their demands, including the enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic was seen on Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri borders since 7 am.

"I knew about the farmers' march scheduled today and left for office an hour early from my house in Gurugram's Sector 29. Seeing the traffic situation, it seems I will reach my office in central Delhi a couple of hours late, despite starting early," said Julie Lawrance, who was stuck in the jam for at least an hour.

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A traffic police officer, while noting that over two lakh people travel between Delhi and Gurgaon each day during working hours, advised people to use the Metro services.

At the Ghazipur border, only two vehicles were able to pass at a time with barricades lined up on half of the key stretch connecting Noida and Delhi.

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Near the Ghazipur border, the police had blocked the link roads and vehicles moved in a single queue.

Another commuter, Kritika Sharma, said she had started for the office at 6 am but even by 9 am, was still stuck in a jam.

Both at the Singhu and Tikri borders, there were long queues of vehicles due to heavy barricading and police checking.