CAA Agitation: Shaheen Bagh protesters open arterial road to Noida and Faridabad
New Delhi/UNI/IBNS: On the day Supreme Court-appointed interlocutor Sadhana Ramachandran and the anti-CAA protestors held talks at Shaheen Bagh for the fourth consecutive day, an arterial road connecting Delhi with Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Faridabad in Haryana was opened by the protesters.
Ramchandran, who paid a surprise visit to Shaheen Bagh, for another round of talks told the protesters that they should clear the roads, failing which the interlocutors would not be able to help the protesters with their demand.
"We are not saying that Shaheen Bagh should dismantle. Let's get that very clear. Shaheen Bagh kayam rahe (Let Shaheen Bagh continue)," Ramachandran, who went without the other interlocutor Sanjay Hegde to the protesting site, told the demonstrators today.
However, the anti-CAA protestors were firm on their stand. They also demanded action against ministers for their controversial remarks. The families of those who died or injured during the agitation should be given compensation and the government should promise security for the protesters, they demanded.
"If you want to go to meet the Home Minister, you can go. And if you want to go to the government, then go. But, we are not here from the government's side," she said.
Ramachandran, while leaving the protest site, said she would speak to Sanjay Hegde, the second interlocutor appointed by the top court, about her meeting with the protesters. ''The agitation has been continuing for more than two months, putting at discomfort many people who live near the protest site,'' she said.
On Monday, an apex court bench, headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, gave the directions during hearing of petitions filed by BJP's Dr Nand Kishore Garg and lawyer Amit Sahni, seeking appropriate orders to authorities, to handle the CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh.
It granted one-week time to the interlocutors, to talk to the demonstrators and report back. Further hearing was set for February 24.
Meanwhile, today a road, which was blocked for 70 days in Shaheen Bagh due to anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, was reopened on Saturday, police said.
The Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch connects Delhi with Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Faridabad in Haryana.
The protesters have opened a small portion of a road leading to Kalindi Kunj so that locals can pass through it with their two-wheelers, police said.
However, there will not be any relief for commuters travelling between the two cities in the neighbouring states.
On Friday also the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh road opened for about half-an-hour only to ease the traffic as a temporary arrangement.
Following the protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) at Shaheen Bagh since December 15 last year, the Kalindi Kunj marg, has been shut for traffic movement.
As the standoff neared two months, the CAA protesters contended that they were not responsible for the road blockade.
Protesters had claimed that they are agitation only on 150-meter-long stretch in Shaheen Bagh and its the Delhi Police which has blocked the roads from three-sides.
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