New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS): The National Highway-24, which was barricaded by the Ghaziabad Police early on Monday, is now functional and the movement of traffic has returned to normal, the Delhi Traffic Police said here.

Earlier, in the morning, the Delhi Traffic Police were forced to divert traffic on several roads as both NH-9 and NH-24, which connect the national capital with Uttar Pradesh and are among the key routes towards the Ghazipur border, were barricaded by the Ghaziabad Police.

Informing about the closure, the Delhi Traffic Police had said that diversion was created at the Akshardham Setu towards Noida and Vikas Marg for Ghaziabad. "The traffic was diverted from Road number-57A to Hasanpur Karkari Mod for Shahdara, Anand Vihar and Ghaziabad," the Traffic Police added.

The traffic was diverted from roundabout Ghazipur towards Anand Vihar, Bhopura border (Ghaziabad) via Road number-56 and from roundabout Murga Mandi towards Dr Hedgewar Marg and Nala Road up to UP Gate, Ghaziabad, for Vaishali, Vasundhara, and Ghaziabad through Ghazipur Paper Market.

Earlier, the Delhi Traffic Police had advised commuters going to Ghaziabad from Sarai Kale Khan to take an alternate route.

"Commuters coming from Sarai Kale Khan, take an alternate route for Ghaziabad i.e. Vikas Marg via Road Number-57A, Road Number 56, Anand Vihar and Paper Market for Ghaziabad and for Noida through the DND," the Traffic Police had tweeted which was later deleted.

The heavy barricading comes in the wake of violence at a farmers' protest in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri that left at least eight people dead and 15 others injured. The protest took a violent turn as unknown persons opened fire at the farmers on Sunday, following which angry farmers set three jeeps on fire after some of the protesters were run over by the vehicles. One of the vehicles allegedly belongs to Ashish Mishra, the son of the Union Minister Ajay Mishra.

Since Sunday, the incident became a political hotspot with leaders from the opposition parties targeting the ruling Uttar Pradesh government and vowed to visit the incident site.