Chaotic scenes broke out at the Delhi-Haryana borders on Friday as the Gurgaon and Ghaziabad administrations sealed their borders with Delhi, holding the national capital responsible for the sudden spurt of COVID-19 cases in the state.
Hundreds of vehicles were stopped at the Jaipur Expressway border in Sirhaul area as Gurgaon police refused grant permission for the entry of vehicles, except for essential services as mandated by the Delhi High Court.
State Home Minister Anil Vij ordered the sealing of borders on Thursday after Gurgaon registered a steep increase of 68 cases in a single day and state registered 123 fresh cases—the highest single day spike in Haryana. The minister directed that the borders should be fully closed except for the movement of those vehicles for essential services.
In the wake of the order by the minister, the borders were heavily barricaded and there was heavy deployment of police at Delhi-Gurgaon-Sirhaul border located on NH8, Mehrauli-Gurgaon (MG) road border, Kapashera border and 11 other entry points on Friday. This led to chaos, confusion, traffic congestion and people getting into altercations with the cops.
“Haryana thinks it is all a joke. We have got passes for daily travel from Noida to Gurgaon as our office has re-started. Today, when I reached here they tell me I cannot be allowed despite a pass because my service is not essential. MHA has allowed all of us to get back to work with valid passes, how can they supersede MHA's orders? This is illegal. This day-to-day changes in border operations lead to chaos,” said Niranjan Batra, employee of an auto major in Manesar.
“I have a valid pass and run my own clinic in Gurgaon. I was scheduled to meet over 20 patients, but was refused entry into the city. For an entire week, they do not check passes and suddenly overnight they don't allow even pass holders to enter? We all are battling high corona numbers, but that is no reason to harass us,” said Utterja Ahuja, a dentist.
It may be noted that the borders were open ever since the fourth phase of the lockdown came into effect. However, according to state health authorities, this free movement between Delhi and Gurgaon was key reason behind spurt in cases and community transmission.
Speaking to THE WEEK, Mohammad Akil, Gurgaon’s police commissioner said, “We are acting as per state orders received today (Friday) morning. Except for the categories exempted by Delhi High Court and the Centre, the inter-state borders for others would remain completely sealed till further orders. We have tried our best to communicate this through social media and would appeal to everyone to not try to cross the border if they are not part of essential services.”
Vij had said 80 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in Haryana have been reported from Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar districts which share their border with Delhi.