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| 'Chakka jam' halts wheels in many states | | | New Delhi | Aug 13
Road and rail traffic were today disrupted in parts of Delhi and across several states as VHP and BJP activists launched a nationwide 'chakka jam' agitation over the Amarnath land issue.
Commuters had a tough time as traffic on certain major intersections and roads in the National Capital Region (NCR) and train movement along the Delhi-Jaipur route were halted by the activists this morning.
The blockade, which lasted two hours from 9 am, left many office-goers stranded across the NCR region and caused huge jams.
Reports of disruption of road and rail traffic have come in from Punjab, Gujarat, Orissa, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar, ruled BJP and its allies, and Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam.
The protests were largely peaceful and there were no reports of any major untoward incident. The activists set up blockades and burnt tyres in several places, the reports said.
In Ambala in Haryana, a 70-year-old man died when the autorickshaw taking him to a hospital got stuck in a traffic jam for over an hour, police sources said.
In NCR region, traffic was affected on the busy Vikas Marg, ITO, Akshardham area, Deepali Chowk, Wazirpur, Ashram, Moolchand, Delhi-Ghaziabad road, Delhi-Jaipur Highway, Delhi-Noida-Delhi Express Highway, Delhi Cantonment, Uttam Nagar, Dhaula Kuan and many other places.
Carrying BJP and VHP flags, slogan-shouting supporters, including women activists of the Sangh Parivar started assembling at major intersections at about 9 am and blocked traffic as part of their two-hour agitation.
Reports from various states said that saffron activists, blocking traffic, were detained in many areas.
BJP and VHP activists said they had exempted school buses, ambulances and essential service vehicles from the purview of their blockade.
Long queues of vehicles were seen on roads and the rain this morning in the NCR region added to the woes of the communters and police personnel managing traffic.
Delhi BJP unit president Harsh Vardhan led the protesters at Noida crossing near Lakshmi Nagar in east Delhi blocking traffic on Vikas Marg.
In Chandigarh, Punjab VHP spokesman Vijay Singh Vhardwaj described the agitation as a 'complete success". |
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