DND flyover shut briefly due to farmers' rally

NOIDA: The Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway connecting Uttar Pradesh with the national capital was briefly shut on Friday as a large number of farmers marched on the road in a rally, officials said.
The flyover was opened later and traffic was normalised in the evening, an official said.

The Delhi Traffic Police had asked commuters to take alternate routes between Delhi and Noida.They suggested using the NH-9 instead of the DND for moving to Ghazipur via Mayur Vihar.
"Due to the rally/protest by farmers, the DND road between Noida and Delhi has been shut," the Delhi Traffic Police tweeted at 5 pm.

Vehicular movement on the crucial route had come to a crawl, with several commuters sharing their agony on social media.
"Coming back to Delhi from Noida? Avoid roads. Take the metro. The traffic is insane. 2 hours for a 35 min route. And I have still not reached," a Twitter user said.
Another commuter stuck at a traffic jam near Mayur Vihar posted on Twitter, "I am stuck here for last two hours. It would have been better had I opted for metro today. It took me around 50 minutes to cover a distance of five km."
Earlier in the day, the Delhi Traffic Police had issued an advisory stating traffic movement on NH-24, Kalindi Kunj, Sarita Vihar, Mathura Road, and from DND to Ashram was likely to be impacted due to the rally.

The rally organised by Kisan Uday Abhiyan, led by Manish Teotia, was stopped at the DND flyover since they came with tractors and trolleys which is not allowed inside the city, a senior Delhi Police officer said.
Farmers from villages in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad districts and other nearby areas attended the rally.
Around 600-700 police officials from the eastern and southeastern districts of Delhi were deployed to control the situation. A delegation has gone to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister Office. The traffic has been normalised now, the police officer said.
The Noida Traffic Police said there could be diversions made on the route according to requirements.
"People are advised to use alternate roads via Mayur Vihar and Kalindi Kunj for movement between Noida and Delhi to avoid inconvenience," it had said in the advisory.