UP farmers leave Burari ground, those from Punjab stay put

A group of farmers from Uttar Pradesh, who were camping at the Burari ground in north-east Delhi for the past few days, left the site on Thursday but a few hundred farmers from Punjab are continuing to stay put to mark their protest against the three new farm laws.

The Nirankari Samagam ground in Burari was provided by the Delhi Police in order to entice the farmers away frm the border blockades. However, only a few hundred farmers agreed to move to the ground while the others are continuing their protest at the borders of Delhi.

On Thursday, the number of farmers at the ground further reduced. Harpal Singh, manager of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, said that the farmers from Uttar Pradesh, who were staying put in the camps set up by the government, were not to be seen. “They were there for four days, but it appears that they left on Wednesday night and did not inform anyone before leaving,” he said.

The Delhi government has set up makeshift tents, food stalls, toilets and medical camps for farmers at the ground, but farmers have refused all government favours. All the tents, which can accommodate thousands of people, are lying empty.

Binder Singh, district president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Faridkot), said, “We do not need anything from the government. We just request the Centre to revoke the three black laws that it has imposed on us. We are living in our tractors and trucks and cooking our food. We have rations for over three to four months.”

Malkeet Singh, a farmer from Punjab’s Faridkot district, said they are representing their fellow farmers protesting at the Delhi borders. “The government is not allowing them to enter the capital. But some of us have to represent them inside the capital as well. We are doing that and we will not leave till the government accepts all our demands,” he said.

The farmers said some of them make daily visits to ongoing protest sites at the Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri border points of Delhi. “We go there and meet our brothers daily. We have been asked by our leaders to stay put. We will leave and join them at the border if they ask us to do so,” Binder Singh said.