NEW DELHI: A four to five foot wide concrete wall, built by the Delhi police, now cuts across the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway, isolating the Samyukta Kisan Morcha protesters from the capital.
Behind this wall are five layers of barricades in an area of approximately 1.5 km, preventing farmers from accessing two dozen Delhi Jal Board mobile toilet vans and water cisterns.
The protesters are disappointed, but not desperate. “We are farmers. We will drill tube wells if the need arises. The government must not think that it will intimidate us. We will not return to our villages without ensuring the future of our children, ”said Kuljit Singh, a farmer from Patiala.
Haryana Water Tanker Trucks Only
The municipality of kisan is now struggling with a sanitation problem and has increased the waiting time in the few available toilets on the other side. As a result, many now defecate in the open or go to the fields with particularly affected women. Piles of garbage are piling up on the Haryana side and disposable cutlery from the langars is burning on some vacant lots.
A BKU volunteer from Kaithal, Manjit Dhillon, said the fortification had been carried out not to prevent farmers from going towards Delhi, but to cut off all support from the Delhi side. “Before, a lot of tanker trucks used to come from that side of the road, but now we rely solely on the tanker trucks from Haryana. Many are buying packaged water bottles, “he said. Some farmers depend on the reverse osmosis water plants installed by Khalsa Aid to fill 20-liter drums for shops. Many establishments along the highway are also helping them with water.
Meanwhile, more jathas of women have arrived from Jind, Sonepat and Narela. Ramrati Devi, an elderly woman from Jind, said that the attack on farmers by the stoners on January 29 had caused much distress in her region.
Punjabi singers are seen speaking of solidarity between agricultural communities of all faiths. Many speakers on the SKM stage said that a conspiracy had been hatched to create a rift between the communities and that Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims should unite. Farmers belonging to the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh committee expressed their fear that the police might try to push them back.
The determination on the part of the police to keep the farmers on the ground is visible in the way in which layers of barricades were put up. In front of the concrete wall, towards Haryana, the last line of defense is a row of metal shipping containers that have been filled with concrete slabs. On the other side of the wall, towards Delhi, the barricades spread again and again, to the village of Singhola.
Just before the penultimate layer of barricades, police officers said they have been ordered not to allow the media to go beyond that point, forcing reporters to take a detour of a few kilometers.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police reinforced the fortification of the Ghazipur border by incorporating layers of tire kills (iron spikes with pointed ends up) on the surface of the NH-9 and erecting a concrete wall in its lanes to increase the multi-level defense. composed of barricades and concertina wires. Police also extended the fortification to the edges of NH-9, alongside the Delhi-Ghaziabad lanes where the road meets Mohan Nagar Link Road in Vaishali, digging a trench and covering it with wire mesh.
While Delhi police took action after the Republic Day chaos during the farmers’ tractor parade, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said that the intense fortification of borders and road closures was a strategy to turn the locals against the farmers. “It is a well thought out plan by the Delhi Police and the Center to seal the borders because that will only inconvenience the public, who will use it to mobilize against us,” Tikait said on Tuesday.
(With input from Ghaziabad)
On video: Farmers’ upheaval: concrete wall built to block entrance at Singhu border
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