After going back and forth for 48 hours on the issue of movement to and from Delhi, the Gurugram district administration finally withdrew the curbs on inter-State movement on Wednesday.
The Gurugram administration on Tuesday imposed curbs on inter-State movement. However, within a few hours, another set of directions were issued withdrawing the restrictions on the movement. The confusion persisted till the final order on lifting the curbs was made public on Wednesday evening.
The two conflicting orders came on the heels of Chief Minister Manohar Lal explaining during the day how cross-border movement between Delhi and Haryana was a matter of “mutual understanding” and the national capital had shut its borders despite the State willing to open them.
The Haryana government had on May 31 decided to open borders with all neighbouring States in the wake of the Union Home Ministry’s guidelines on “Unlock 1”. But it had a change of heart after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on June 1 declared shutting of the borders with both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The varying instructions of the two governments over opening of the Delhi-Haryana border were construed by many as a “battle of egos” since they are ruled by different political parties.
The decision of the Gurugram administration to finally allow free movement has come as a huge reprieve to a large workforce commuting to the Millennium City for work. Residents of the two cities now hope for the Delhi government to follow suit and lift the restrictions. They are however keeping their fingers crossed over the permanence of the Gurugram order. A Twitter user underscored his fear saying: “Hope they don’t change it next morning.”