December 12, 2020 4:30:24 am
Farmers en route to Delhi near Ludhiana on Friday. (Express Photography: Gurmeet Singh)
More than 1,500 vehicles, including some 1,300 truck tractors, from nearly 1,000 villages in seven districts. This is the size of a new convoy of protesters from Punjab expected to reach the Delhi border over the weekend, according to the Kisan Mazdoor Sangarsh Committee (KMSC), which launched the first major protest in the state against the laws. agricultural activities of the Center with the railway blockade since the end of September.
KMSC leaders said The Indian Express that the convoy, in multiple groups, will replace the first group of protesters who reached the border along Kundli in 100 tractor-trollers two weeks ago.
“There is already a big meeting on the borders of Delhi, but we will find a way. If we can’t get space, we’ll stop where we can. Also, we already have a stage in Kundli. We will replace those who are already there, who will return home, ”said Satnam Singh Pannu, President of KMSC.
“The convoy has protesters from Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Taran Taran, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur and Moga. Coordinating with each other, they met at Doraha in Ludhiana on National Highway 1 around 5pm. They will advance in smaller groups so that the road does not get congested, “said Pannu, who is from the village of Piddi in Gurdaspur.
KMSC leaders estimated that the convoy was carrying some 30,000 protesters in tractor trailers and another 1,000 in cars. District officials said they were not keeping a count of protesters and vehicles heading to Delhi.
Baljinder Singh Sandhu, KMSC press secretary, said the new convoy will be entrenched in the long term. “We go with rations, duvets, clothes, LPG cylinders, buckets, etc. Our cars are covered with waterproof sheets and we are prepared for the adverse weather expected in Delhi, ”said Sandhu, who is from the Nepalese village of Talwandi in Ferozepur.
Pannu said the convoy will stop at Shahbad Markanda in Haryana before the first group reaches the Delhi border on Saturday afternoon. “This journey is unstoppable now. The Center should have listened to us in June-July. Ab Delhi dur nahin (now Delhi is not far), ”said Pannu.
The Indian Express He spoke to several protesters in the convoy, who described the unrest as a “struggle to keep private companies off” their lands.
“I am a small farmer with 3 acres of land. My father passed away a few years ago and my two brothers cultivate their part of the land. Farm laws are a death sentence for us. What if private company contract farming finally makes me an employee on their land? That is why I am going to present my protest in Delhi, ”said Amandeep Singh, 31, from Kachhar Bhana village in Ferozepur.
“What if these fields will not remain mine? I have to fight for myself and for my future generations. The fields are our mother. The farmer is very fond of his land. These laws are not good, ”said Dharam Singh Sidhu, from Lalcheeian village in Ferozepur.
With minimal police deployment, state government officials said they would not impede the farmers’ movement. “We don’t control the movement of the tractors. The Constitution of India allows the free movement of people anywhere in the country, ”said a senior official in Ludhiana.
“The movement of the tractors is now a routine. Many people go and many return too, ”said a high-ranking police officer.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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