Essential service workers left stranded as Delhi- Haryana border sealed

By Sahil Pandey
Faridabad (Haryana) [India], April 29 : In order to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the national capital, the roads connecting Delhi to the neighbouring states have been sealed. However, this has become daily trouble for the movement of people involved in essential services.
Arun, an employee at an Apollo pharmacy, said, "I am a health worker and I want to go home. However, I am being denied by the state border police as they are saying that I don't have permission to go back to my place."
Echoing similar sentiments, Satyadhar Tiwari who is a bank employee, said, "My bank is in Sarita Vihar and I live in Faridabad. While I was not stopped from going to my workplace in the morning, I am being stopped now on my way back home. Though I have all passes to cross the border the police are telling me that I can not go."
"The police stationed at the Delhi-Haryana border should have stopped us from entering Delhi in the morning itself. I have my house in Haryana and now I am not being allowed to reach home even though I entered Delhi in the morning with no hassle," said Devender Singh, a gas delivery agent.
Another essential service provider Narendra Kumar, an employee in the dairy industry said that as he lives in Haryana and his dairy is in Sarita Vihar he has been told that he can not cross the border.
"Though I work in a dairy farm, I have been told that I can not travel from Delhi to Faridabad," he added.
Speaking on the problems being faced by the essential service providers, Faridabad Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dhaarna Yadav told ANI, "To control the spread of coronavirus, we were ordered to seal the inter-state borders of Delhi-Haryana. However, we are allowing the essential service providers to cross the borders so that the normal public is not distressed. Trucks carrying essential services are being allowed and the locals have been advised to get their treatment done in the nearby area."
"I understand that some sections of society are facing problems but we have to understand that these are challenging times for the nation. All of us should get accustom ourselves to the new circumstances," she further said.
Responding to the traffic jam on Badarpur border which connects Delhi-Haryana, Yadav said, "We are trying to control the unnecessary movement of people and yet several people are roaming around without any urgent reason. This is causing the traffic jam. The sole purpose of lockdown and closing the borders is to control the spread of coronavirus. "
Haryana sealed its borders with Delhi on Tuesday and only allowed access to essential services with strict restrictions on those entering from the national capital.