Farmers’ blockade on NH-44: Tough time for commuters, truck drivers count losses

Parveen Arora

Pipli (Kurukshtera), June 13

Thousands of commuters had a tough time due to blockade by the farmers at Pipli on the national highway-44 for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.

District administrations of Karnal and Kurukshetra have issued traffic advisory for the commuters and appealed to them not to use the highway owing to blockade.

The NH-44 between Karnal and Kurukshetra wore a deserted look as the traffic was being diverted by the police at various places, but the heavy traffic on alternative routes increased the woes of the commuters.

Commuters, particularly those who were going to hill stations, were seen wandering helplessly in this desperate situation. They were seen enquiring about the alternative routes to reach their respective destinations. “I along with my family members had planned to go to Shimla and Kufri. All the bookings had been done. Before leaving Delhi, I had inquired about traffic and I was told that there were alternative routes, but when we reached here, there was heavy traffic jam on them also,” said Ritesh Kumar, a resident of Delhi who was inquiring about alternative routes.

Naresh Kumar, a commuter from Sonepat who was travelling to Chandigarh, blamed both the government and the farmers, saying both should think about the people who were travelling on the national highway. Farmers should have not blocked roads, and the government should have accepted their demands.

Due to traffic diversion, light vehicles were somehow reaching their destination, but truck drivers have to suffer a lot. There were long queues of trucks between Nilokheri and Pipli. Truck drivers counted their losses and said that they cannot go on alternative routes due to heavy vehicles. “I have to go to Himachal Pradesh, but due to traffic jams he could not go and had no option but to stay here, which leads to losses to him,” said Surinder Singh, a truck owner-cum-driver from Delhi who had a truck loaded with goods.

“It has been over 24 hours. I have been waiting for the clearing of traffic jams, but nothing has happened. I have to go to Jammu to deliver the goods, but I have no option but to wait here,” said Angrej Singh, another truck driver.

Surinder Singh Bhoria, Superintendent of Police (SP) Kurukshetra, said to avoid inconvenience to the commuters, they have already issued a traffic advisory and eight alternative routes were earmarked. “Police personnel have been deployed at all the alternative routes to assist the commuters,” said the SP Bhoira.

Traffic plan by Kurukshetra and Karnal administration

Karnal and Kurukshetra administrations have issued traffic advisory for the commuters who are traveling between Chandigarh and Delhi. As per the advisory, commuters coming from the Ambala side has been diverted from Sadhopur to NH152 D via Ismailabad to Dhand and further to Karnal and beyond Delhi via NH-44.

They were diverted from Ambala Cantt bus stand to travel towards the Delhi side via Saha, Radaur, Ladwa, Karnal and further via NH-44. Commuters were being diverted from Shahabad to Babain and further to NH-44 in Karnal via Ladwa and Indri.

The commuters from Delhi to Chandigarh side were diverted from Baldi bypass Karnal to Shahbad via Indri, Ladwa and Babain. Similarly, the commuters from Delhi to Chandigarh side were diverted from Baldi bypass to Ladwa via Indri and further Radaur and NH-344 to Chandigarh. An alternative route was also opened from Nilokheri to Dhand and further to Chandigarh via-152D.There were several other local routes which were being earmarked by the administration for commuters.