As UP, Delhi tighten checks, Ghaziabad entry gridlocked

NEWDELHI: Thousands of commuters were stranded for hours in a huge gridlock at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border on Wednesday owing to stricter checking by the police and the barricading of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway that diverted all traffic to a single carriageway towards Delhi.

The problem was compounded by toll collection from commercial vehicles on the same road where the police check posts were placed. Hundreds of motorists took over 40 minutes to cross the Ghazipur border. The congestion finally cleared by 2pm, after the Delhi Police eased up on checks.

On Monday, the Delhi government had sealed the capital’s borders to protect its health care resources even as Covid-19 cases in the city crossed the 20,000mark. Ghaziabad had placed similar restrictions since April 22, citing a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the district which were linked to residents who had travelled to Delhi.

Early on Wednesday morning, police placed concrete bollards on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, blocking the entry of vehicles into Delhi. Motorists coming from Meerut, Ghaziabad, Indirapuram, Raj Nagar and even Noida, found themselves stuck in long snarls, as the traffic was limited to a single carriageway to Delhi.

Both Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police personnel at the border blamed each other for blocking the expressway flyover.

But that was not the end of the commuters’ woes. Below the flyover, the police placed barricades and opened just one lane to motorists.

While the move allowed the police to check passes of a large number of motorists entering Delhi, it caused a bottleneck and resulted in the jam getting longer.

The Ghaziabad police said the checking of vehicles by the Delhi Police led to the jams. “The Delhi Police were checking vehicles, slowing down traffic. We had long queues on the Ghaziabad side. On our side, we were checking vehicles entering Ghaziabad from Delhi,” Anshu Jain, circle officer (Indirapuram), said.

“I am carrying a critical patient to AIIMS from UP’s Sambhal. Our entire journey till Indirapuram was smooth. But from there onwards, the traffic was thick. We got stuck in the jam for more than 45 minutes,” an ambulance driver, who refused to share his name, said.

When the situation threatened to go out of control, around 11am, the police decided to lift the barricades and let vehicles pass through without any checking. The chaos continued till around 2pm, after which the police relaxed the checking to avoid further congestion.