Commuters hit slow lane as Chandigarh border barricaded

It was a chaotic day, marred by barricades and traffic jams in Mohali, Chandigarh and Zirakpur from morning till evening.

The Chandigarh-Zirakpur and Mohali-Chandigarh border roads remained barricaded and severely clogged due to 32 farmer unions’ march toward the Punjab CM’s house in Chandigarh. It became an ordeal to cross over from Chandigarh to Mohali side and vice versa as choke points led to long queues of vehicles on both sides. Entry points to Chandigarh from Phase 6, 3A and 8 remained barricaded till late in the evening. Heavy police was deployed on Airport Road, near YPS Chowk, on the Sector 50-51 road and the furniture market. Cops struggled to streamline the traffic. On the Jail road, barricades near the Punjab School Education Board office forced commuters to take detours, causing them inconvenience.

Kavita Balhara, teacher at a Sector 78 school, said, “Protests in Mohali have become a daily affair. No day passes when there is no protest in some part of this city. Farmers, government school teachers, doctors, paramedics, veterinary doctors, PSPCL employees... you name it and everybody is on a protest. It makes life difficult for daily wagers, taxi-auto drivers, gig workers and roadside vendors. Transportation charges increase but no one thinks about them.”

At the Chhat light point, traffic moved at a snail’s pace for close to three hours in the afternoon as members of the BKU (Dakaunda) were stopped by the Punjab Police after which they staged a sit-in protest on the PR-7 road.

Union president Manjit Singh Dhaner alleged that he was “manhandled” by cops at Chhat village while he was leading farmers to Chandigarh. Frustrated commuters left their vehicles on the road to know the reason of traffic jam.

Dera Bassi industrialist Ranjiv Grover said, “I, along with hundreds of commuters, remained stuck in the traffic jam for three hours near the McDonald’s light point in the afternoon. It seems there is no law and order left in Punjab. It has become a free for all and the government has become thick-skinned and indifferent to people’s woes.”

In the afternoon, cops remained busy on Airport Road as Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar was on a one-day visit to Mohali to inaugurate the Indian School Business (ISB) Leadership Summit.

In the evening, the first ever Saras Mela in Sector 88 drew huge crowds leading to traffic and commotion in the area.

“It was a hectic day from morning till late in the evening. Fortunately, there was no untoward incident and everything passed off peacefully,” said a cop who remained in the thick of action throughout the day.

In Kharar, BKU (Ekta-Sidhupur) locked the office of the Market Committee and staged a sit-in outside to protest against tardy paddy procurement in the Kharar mandi.