India, March 21 -- The Punjab Police on Thursday opened the arterial National Highway 44 and allowed traffic to flow through the interstate border with Haryana for the first time in 13 months, a day after it detained hundreds of farm leaders and demolished protest sites to dismantle the agitation.

Authorities said that part of the stretch between Ambala and Rajpura on the of the key highway - it connects Srinagar to Kanyakumari - that was closed since February 10, 2024 was opened for traffic at6.30pmafter police cleared the Shambhu protest site. At the Khanauri protest site, where agitators blocked Shambhu barrier at Pubjab and Haryana interstate border, police said traffic is likely to resume by Friday evening.

"The highway has been cl...