60 trucks stranded on DND flyway, Kalindi Kunj

NOIDA: At least 60

trucks

are stranded at the Noida-Delhi border on the

DND

flyway and at

Kalindi Kunj

after entry of heavy vehicles into Delhi was banned from Thursday night.


Some of the truck drivers drove towards Delhi via the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (

EPE

) but others, especially those who have to

unload

their trucks at places such as Narela Mandi in Delhi, are waiting for the border to open on November 11. They rued that they had not been informed about the border closure on time.

Avinash Yadav, a truck driver who headed to Narela in Delhi, said that he had to stay put till the border opened as taking the EPE would be futile. “It will not serve my purpose. I will have to drive an extra 60-70 kilometres and after reaching Kondli, I will be stopped again from entering Delhi. I should have been informed about this move before entering Agra, so that I could have gone back and not headed towards NCR,” he said.

Drivers complained that there was no direct link to EPE for those travelling to Delhi via the Yamuna Expressway. “We should be able to access the EPE after taking the direct link

road

from the Yamuna Expressway,” said Dharmendra, a truck driver who is transporting rice from Mainpuri to Delhi. Some drivers claimed that their transporters had asked them to stay put but they had no food or water. Dalbir Singh, a transporter whose trucks run on the Yamuna Expressway, said that those approaching Delhi from Haryana could take the EPE, but those travelling from UP cities such as Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow via the Yamuna Expressway, had been hit by the move.

Meanwhile, traffic police said that the trucks would be shifted to an empty space near Gaushala Road on Saturday. With respect to the demand for transit to EPE from the Yamuna Expressway, SP (traffic) Anil Jha said that a link road was being planned from near Jewar toll by YEIDA.

In neighbouring Ghaziabad too, the traffic department has put a diversion plan in place. “Vehicles meant to transport goods to Delhi have no option but to wait in Ghaziabad till 11pm on November 11. However, we are allowing transportation of vehicles carrying essential goods such as medicines or food. Vehicles meant for states other than Delhi are being diverted through the EPE. These vehicles have been allowed to access the expressway either from Duhai or Dasna,” said Ghaziabad SP (traffic) Shyam Narayan Singh.