Commuters face trouble as farmers block KMP e-way

New Delhi : Commuters on Saturday faced a harrowing time after farmers blocked the 136-km long Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway to mark 100 days of their protests against the three farm bills passed by the Central government.At Palwal toll plaza in Haryana, almost 85 km from Delhi, which marks the start of the six-lane expressway, commuters were taken aback when their way was blocked by the agitating farmers, clad in white.”I am headed to Gwalior from Gurugram. I did not know that there was a farmer protest on the highway. There was no alert issued by the government as well,” said 28-year-old Aman Kumar, who seemed to be annoyed due to the trouble caused by the blockade.Another person who was driving his car to Agra echoed the same sentiments. Befuddled by the road block, a truck driver said that he would have to take a de-tour to reach his destination.Right after the farmers blocked the toll plaza, few of the vehicles were allowed to move ahead, while the rest were turned back.Vehicles carrying children and women are not being stopped.Farmers blocked the Palwal toll plaza on the six-lane expressway by squatting on the road in the scorching heat. Security has been heightened in the area.The six-lane KMP expressway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2018. It has ten tolled entry and exit points, 52 underpasses and 23 overpasses.It was built to decongest the ever-busy roads of Delhi, especially by reducing the number of trucks entering the national capital, thus helping to curb the pollution.The farmers’ agitation against the three contentious agricultural laws, had begun on November 26. In these 100 days, the farmers have braved harsh weather conditions, but remained firm on their demands.Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at the Delhi border points Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur to demand a complete repeal of laws, enacted in September, last year.