Calling for attention, thousands of farmers head to the national capital on Friday with their echoes of the repeal of three increasingly strong farm laws enacted by Parliament in September. Thursday witnessed high-voltage clashes between police personnel and protesting farmers forcing their way into adjacent areas of Delhi such as Panipat, Sirsa, Kurukshetra, Fatehabad and Jind.
Farmers, hailing from Punjab and Haryana, in their “Delhi Chalo” march demand that the ruling dispensation agree to hear their objections to the passage of farm laws, which together have paved the way for farm companies to freely trade farm products no restrictions. private traders to store large quantities of essential products for future sales and to establish new rules for contract farming.
Also read: Farmers forcibly enter Haryana, head to Delhi
In the past 12-15 hours, farmers have moved closer to Delhi, prompting Delhi police to expand deployment of security personnel, park trucks laden with sand and water cannons, and use barbed wire for fences. on the Singhu border to prevent protesters from entering. the city.
Here’s everything you need to know about the farmers’ march:
– Police said they will not allow farmers protesting against the Center’s new agricultural laws to enter Delhi if they reach the borders of the national capital.
– Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava, who visited the border areas, said: “Due to Covid-19 guidelines have been issued in which political meetings are not allowed here and because of this, your request (from farmers ) It was rejected. If they still try, we have deployed personnel at the borders to prevent them from entering the national capital. We are also in contact with the Punjab and Haryana police ”.
– Traffic movement in border areas is likely to be disrupted. Traffic was also closed from Bahadurgarh to Delhi on Thursday night, authorities said.
– Delhi metro services from neighboring cities to the national capital will remain suspended on Friday in view of the “Chalo of Delhi” protest march. However, metro services will be available from Delhi to the NCR sections.
Also read: Farmers defy water cannons, tear gas and break through Haryana barricades
– Five trucks loaded with sand and three water cannons have also been parked on the Singhu border to prevent protesters from driving tractors, the PTI news agency reported. Authorities have stated that drones have been deployed to maintain strict surveillance to maintain law and order.
– Areas affected by the police deployment include: NH-24, DND, Chilla border, Tigri border, Bahadurgarh border, Faridabad border, Kalindi Kunj border and Singhu border.
– Haryana authorities have imposed prohibition orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in various parts of the state to prevent the assembly of protesters.
– Reports of altercations emerged from Ambala on Thursday, where farmers threw barricades erected by police on a bridge over the Ghaggar River into the river after facing tear gas shells from police personnel. The police, over the loudspeaker, called on the farmers on the Punjab side to disperse, but that did not help. As smoke from tear gas clouded the skies and farmers outnumbered security personnel, they were allowed into Haryana around noon.
– In political development, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and Delhi Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal were among those who criticized the action of the police in Haryana.
– Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal also criticized attempts to thwart the protest. “Today is 11/26 Punjab. We are witnessing the end of the right to democratic protest, ”he tweeted.
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