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Farmers continue to besiege Punjab-Haryana borders; fresh talks today
Union ministers were scheduled to have a third round of negotiations on Thursday as part of efforts to resolve the crisis that has threatened to spill over into Delhi
Protesting farmers continued to besiege the Punjab-Haryana borders following a fresh face-off with security personnel at Shambhu and Jind on Wednesday even as a panel of Union ministers was scheduled to have a third round of negotiations on Thursday as part of efforts to resolve the crisis that has threatened to spill over into Delhi. Security forces have fortified the national capital with barricades and advanced surveillance equipment.
The Union government renewed the attempts to resolve the crisis that has choked the borders between Punjab and Haryana even as the agitation appeared likely to expand on Wednesday with more farm unions pledging support. The agitating farmers have called for a nationwide strike on Friday.
Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh remained clogged on Wednesday even as the traffic mess eased somewhat in the capital. Police streamlined diversions even as more commuters opted for public transit instead of private vehicles after the snarls on Tuesday.
Vehicular movement in central and south Delhi was relatively smoother on Wednesday. Snarls marred the traffic during morning and evening peak hours between Delhi and Noida and stretches near the Singhu and Tikri borders, the focus points of the heightened security measures.
The farmers were scheduled to reach Delhi on Tuesday. Police said the protesting farmers were contained at the Punjab-Haryana borders, but they had inputs that some political and non-political groups in small numbers may march to central Delhi. Barricades were accordingly put at strategic locations in the city and the checking of vehicles was intensified, disrupting vehicular movement and causing bottleneck congestion on roads leading to the police pickets.
Farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been invited for the fresh round of talks, said they would take a call on the future of the protests depending on the outcome of the negotiations on Thursday without compromising on their demands.
The farmers are demanding a law on minimum support prices, debt waivers, jobs for relatives of people killed during the 13-month-long farmers protest in Delhi in 2020-2021, compensation for the farmers injured in Lakhimpur Kheri in October 2021, and the withdrawal of cases registered against protesting cultivators.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) and Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 37 farm unions, pledged support for the ongoing protests on Wednesday. The pledge swelled the agitation that had been backed by fewer groups than in 2021-21.
The two farm unions played key roles in the protests on Delhi’s fringes three years ago. They joined the current protests citing the “condemnable use of violence” against farmers.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) planned to block train tracks in Punjab between 12pm and 4pm on Thursday.
The farmers and police clashed for a second day at the Punjab-Haryana border on Wednesday. Police lobbed tear gas shells and rubber bullets at protesting farmers as they tried to breach the deep cordon of security put in place to keep them from marching to Delhi, 200km south of the Shambhu border. Agitators said 65 farmers were injured on Wednesday.
Haryana home minister Anil Vij defended the use of force against the farmers, saying they wanted to create chaos in Delhi.
