GHAZIABAD: Out of bounds for traffic headed into the national capital since the last week of November 2020, the Delhi-Meerut Expressway was poised to return to normalcy by Thursday morning with the last batch of protesting farmers departing and police starting to dismantle the multi-tier barricades.
A National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official told TOI on Wednesday evening the elevated sections of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and NH-9 at the UP Gate-Ghazipur border would open for regular traffic by midnight.
“We sent officials to the spot under whose guidance the barricades have been removed from the elevated sections,” said Arvind Kumar, an NHAI official. “We almost immediately started to clear the spot of boulders and dust. The Ghaziabad to Delhi side of DME will be opened for traffic around midnight,” added Kumar.
It will, however, take longer for traffic to resume on the NH-9 lanes below the flyover, which is closed for both inbound and outbound Delhi traffic. These lanes are the main access points for traffic heading in and out of Vaishali, which has been taking detours and has faced the brunt of the disruption caused by the agitation.
DCP (east) Priyanka Kashyap said Delhi Police was in the process of removing barricades on both sides of NH9. “The process of removing barricades on DME and NH9 is going on, and by Thursday morning or even before that, we will try to remove all barricades, both on the Delhi to Ghaziabad and Ghaziabad to Delhi sides of NH9,” she said.
Ghaziabad police has, meanwhile, started removing barricades near Khoda. “The barricades were placed to restrict vehicles going towards UP Gate. They are being removed and we have stationed personnel to guide commuters to the section of DME which they have not used for a year,” said Ramanand Kushwaha, SP traffic.
Nirmalendu Mishra, an Indirapuram resident and a daily commuter to Delhi’s Tilak Nagar where he runs a hotel, said, “This is the end of the ordeal, I guess, of taking all those detours. Maybe from Thursday, we can start using DME to reach Delhi. It will help save a lot of time.”
