Ghaziabad lawyers' strike for separate HC bench enters third day India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

District court lawyers at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh continued their agitation on the third day on Thursday with a fresh call for chakka jam (roadblock), demanding separate bench of Allahabad High Court to be set up in western Uttar Pradesh. Lawyers said that people have to spend a lot of money and time to travel to appeal and get justice from the High Court. "Our lawyers for 30 years have been demanding to set up a bench of High Court in Western UP. But our demands have had no impact on the central and state governments," said Ajay Veer, a lawyer. "Today, we have called for a closure of Western UP, markets, rail and road transport. The market association and people are supporting us. Today's is a token closure. We warn the central government to set up a high court bench in Western UP as soon as possible," he added. Markets, petrol pump stations and chemist shops remained partially closed in Ghaziabad. Students and the Ghaziabad Vyapar Mandal (market association) supported the agitation. The striking advocates with support from students and businessmen tried to block the road traffic. They also tried to stop a Meerut-bound passenger train but the early intervention of police ensured the train service ran smoothly. "Our Market association has supported the lawyers' strike. We are making rounds of the market to ensure no shop is open. Common man should get quick justice," said Ram Kishore, a leader of the Ghaziabad Market Association. Meanwhile, angry lawyers in Muradabad, who also supported the demand of their counterparts, blocked the Delhi-Lucknow National Highway 24, disrupting traffic and causing inconvenience to drivers and passengers. The agitators also stopped Guwahati-bound 2436 Rajdhani Express train, which was coming from India's capital New Delhi.