Commuters inconvenienced as Singhu border remains closed for traffic
Some people also had to cross the Delhi-Haryana border on foot while carrying their little children in arms
Representative Image (Reuters)
NEW DELHI: Carrying luggage, while accompanying their little children, Several commuters faced difficulties as the Singhu border remained closed to traffic for the third consecutive day on Thursday in view of the farmers' protest.
Some people also had to cross the Delhi-Haryana border on foot while carrying their little children in their arms.
Sagar Singh, who was coming from Panipat and going towards Bawana, said, "I am going to see my ailing mother-in-law in Bawana. I am planning to stay back so that I can be available for help if she needs me. The current situation is not conducive to traveling at night or even otherwise."
Rohit Kumar was returning from Ambala to Delhi after attending a wedding. He said the authorities should provide a proper alternative so that the commuters do not face such kind of inconvenience.
"I went to attend my nephew's wedding near Ambala on Tuesday. The border was closed that day also. I am traveling with my wife and daughter. I can manage to cross the border with such kind of hurdles, but it is difficult for my wife and daughter. The authorities should give a proper alternative way to reduce the inconvenience for the commuters," Kumar said.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has called a 'Bharat Bandh' on Friday in support of the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation -- a march by farmers of Punjab to the national capital to press the Centre to accept their demands, including the enactment of a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
Vishwash Kumar, who works at a warehouse near Bawana, said if this is going to continue for several days like the earlier agitation, they won't be able to go to their office daily.
"Due to the road closure, it takes double the time to reach our workplace. We hope that this would end early since we have suffered last time as well," he said.
The restrictions in areas around the Delhi-Haryana border points, which have been fortified with metal barricades and concrete blocks to stop farmers from entering the city, came into effect on Tuesday, the day the march began.
Besides a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pensions to farmers and farm laborers, farm debt waiver, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act 2013, withdrawal from the World Trade Organisation and compensation for families of the farmers who died during the previous agitation, among others.
