A massive traffic jam was seen on the road connecting Delhi and Gurugram on Friday morning, a day after the Haryana government decided to seal the routes towards the national capital amid concerns over the rising cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Haryana’s home minister Anil Vij had on Thursday sought stringency in free movement of people from Delhi and said that the number of Covid-19 cases in the state was rising due to the free movement of people from the national capital.
People in large numbers also gathered at the Delhi-Gurugram border. Police personnel were seen checking passes and identity cards of people commuting through the Delhi-Gurugram border.
“No new guidelines have come yet. We are following the Lockdown 4 guidelines,” Bhim Singh, a sub-inspector of police, said according to ANI.
According to top state government officials, fresh curbs meant that those who don’t have e-movement passes and don’t fall in the approved category of essential service providers as per the directions of the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) will not be allowed to commute from Delhi to Haryana.
“Following relaxations in lockdown 4.0, the to and fro movement of people from Delhi to Haryana had increased. There is a possibility that the authorities in the NCR districts have lowered their guard and are allowing unhindered access,’’ an official, who did not wish to be named, had said on Thursday.
The state government had on May 14 given an undertaking before Delhi High Court that the movement of people from Delhi to Haryana would be allowed on production of e-passes.
These movement passes were to be issued to all persons engaged in providing essential services, including medical professionals, within 30 minutes of the receipt of application.
Each e-pass is valid for the entire duration of the lockdown and can be used for multiple visits, the state government had informed HC.
The state government had taken a stand before the court that since about 56% of the coronavirus cases in the national capital region (NCR) districts—Gurugram, Faridabad, Jhajjar and Sonepat — had Delhi links, it will allow back and forth movement of medical professionals from Delhi only on production of movement passes.
