Delhi wants reopening of borders, NCR says 'no': Survey

According to a survey by LocalCircles, more residents of Noida and Faridabad are in favour of border opening than of Gurugram and Ghaziabad.

Delhi shares its borders with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Everyday lakhs of people cross these state borders in the NCR to get to work in New Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad.

Linking the rising cases of COVID-19 patients to Delhi, UP and Haryana had sealed their borders with the national capital except for a few days when Haryana opened them.

From June 1, the Delhi government announced that its borders will be sealed for a week.

"LocalCircles conducted a survey in Delhi and NCR at the city level and asked the residents if their city borders should be opened for unrestricted movement of people. Citizens of Delhi were asked if the Delhi borders with NCR cities -- Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad -- should be opened and unrestricted movement of people should be permitted," LocalCircles said in a statement.

As per the survey, 66 per cent answered yes while 31 per cent said no.

While Delhi has over 20,000 coronavirus cases, Noida and Ghaziabad together have around 750 positive cases.

"In the survey conducted amongst residents of Ghaziabad, 52 per cent said borders should not be opened and 48 per cent said they should be opened," LocalCircles said.

Even in Gautam Budh Nagar -- Noida and Greater Noida -- while 65 per cent residents said borders should be opened 34 per cent said they should remain sealed.

When residents of Faridabad were asked the same question if the Faridabad administration should open the Delhi-Faridabad border and permit unrestricted movement of people, 54 per cent said yes and 38 per cent said no.

"When residents of Gurugram were asked if the administration should open the Delhi-Gurugram border and permit unrestricted movement of people, 50 per cent said yes and 48 per cent said no."

The Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines released on May 30 said that there will be no restriction on inter-state and intra-state movement of people and goods and no additional permission will be required for such travel.

However, the MHA had left it to the respective state governments and local administrations to take a final call on the matter.

Over 20,000 citizens from Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar participated in the survey.

"54 per cent respondents were men while 46 per cent respondents were women. The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform and all participants are validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey," the company said.

Overall, the NCR cities have collectively about 2,500 Covid cases. On the other hand, Delhi has reported more than 23,000 COVID-19 cases so far and stands at the third position as the most infected state in the country.

"The results of the survey indicate that although Delhiites want the NCR borders to be de-sealed so that they could commute to work easily, the residents of the neighbouring cities are split and a sizable percentage is still not in favour of border opening with the concerns that the fast spreading coronavirus in the state of Delhi could spread to their relatively better placed cities as well," the statement added.