New Delhi: A day after mediators appointed by the Supreme Court to hold a dialogue with Shaheen Bagh protesters visited a road blocked by the police, UP cops on Friday opened an alternate route between Noida and Faridabad to ease traffic congestion. However, the relief was short-lived as cops once again put barricades back on the road.
The route connects Noida and Faridabad via Delhi's Kalindi Kunj and hence skirts Shaheen Bagh, where protesters have been camping for over two months against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act.
A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on February 3 seeking a direction to the authorities to remove Shaheen Bagh protesters, saying they are causing hardship to people by blocking arterial road connecting Delhi to Noida.
Restrictions have been imposed on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch and Okhla underpass, which were closed on December 15 last year due to ongoing protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizen (NRC).
The plea, filed by former Delhi MLA Nand Kishore Garg, said the law enforcement machinery was being "held hostage to the whims and fancies of the protesters" who have blocked vehicular and pedestrian movement from the road connecting Delhi to Noida.
A two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph had appointed senior advocates Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran to mediate with the demonstrators and persuade them to move the protest elsewhere.
The court also suggested that the advocates seek help from former information commissioner and IAS officer Wajahat Habibullah.
Talking to reporters, the interlocutors said they had come to Shaheen Bagh to listen to people who had assembled in large numbers.
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