Gazipur, Tikri borders: Barricades being removed after 11 months

The stretch was shut for over 11 months ever since the farmers’ agitation started and had been inconveniencing commuters.

The process of opening the roads has been started from one side of the carriageway for vehicles going from Gaziabad to New Delhi at the Gazipur border.

At Gazipur, Delhi Police initiated the action early today and removed all the barricades and barbed wires to open the roads.

The Delhi Police yesterday started the process of removing barricades placed at the Tikri border allowing traffic movement from New Delhi to Haryana.

The barricades were placed in the wake of the January 26 violence during the farmers’ protest.

Thousands of protestors broke barricades to enter Delhi and indulged in vandalism across several parts of the national capital during their tractor rally organised to protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws on January 26 this year.

Meanwhile, the barricades and cemented blocks have still not been removed from the Singhu border and the road remains closed for commuters.

The farmers’ unions, however, said their protests will continue and that they were not the ones who blocked the roads in the first place.

The police had placed barricades on the roads, along with giant nails and huge concrete blocks, when farmers converged on various border crossing points around the capital in November last year to protest against the Centre’s three agricultural laws.

Earlier on October 21, the Supreme Court said that farmers have the right to protest but roads cannot be blocked indefinitely. This came while hearing a plea against the blockade of roads between Delhi to Noida due to farmers’ protests against the three agriculture laws.

Farmers have been protesting at different sites since November 26 last year against the three enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.