Bharat bandh: Protesting farmers shut NH-9 for four hours at Delhi-Ghaziabad border

Ghaziabad: The major impact of the Bharat bandh call given by protesting farmers’ unions was felt at National Highway 9 at UP Gate in Ghaziabad, where protesters

Ghaziabad: The major impact of the Bharat bandh call given by protesting farmers’ unions was felt at National Highway 9 at UP Gate in Ghaziabad, where protesters blocked the entire Delhi-Ghaziabad carriageway from 11am on Tuesday. As a result, vehicular movement remained suspended on NH-9 till about 3pm when the farmers’ leaders gave a call to the protesters to vacate the carriageway.

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Farmers, congregated at UP Gate in Ghaziabad, have stayed put since November 28 and have occupied the blocked side going from Ghaziabad to Delhi since December 3. This side was still blocked on Tuesday; farmers said the blockade will continue till their demands are met.

Around 11am, hundreds of farmers at the UP Gate protest site jumped to the other side of NH 9 and blocked incoming traffic from Delhi. Officials of the Ghaziabad district administration said the Delhi Police, on the other side, made diversions for vehicles, as a result.

Around 2.40pm, Rakesh Tikait - Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader and spokesperson – made an announcement to the protesters to vacate the carriageway.

“The time set for 3pm is over and it is good news for farmers that they have been successful in giving a message to the government by way of Bharat bandh. There has been no incident of violence reported from across the country and protests have remained peaceful. We will continue talks with the government and our agitation will continue till our demands are met,” Tikait said at the protest site.

“We will also be going to meet the Union home minister on Tuesday evening and a bigger delegation will hold talks with the government on Wednesday in Delhi. So, we opened up the highway when the government received the message,” he added.

The entire UP Gate area on Tuesday was filled up with thousands of protesters who had come in tractor-trolleys, while others have camped there since November 28. Many had come from Punjab, Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh, as well as from the Terai belt of the state.

Kushal Vir Singh, a farmer from Muzaffarnagar district, was holding a poster of farmers’ demands and had tied himself up with iron chains.

“I want to send a message that farmers are basically reduced to ‘ghulam’ (servants) and have no power to decide the cost of their produce. We are sleeping in our fields or on roads here to press for our demands. Still, there is no resolution,” he said.

Several farmers gave speeches from the protest site and also recited poems to portray their conditions.

“It (the blocking of the highway) was just a small trailer and not the full picture. If they still wish to, we can make them see another trailer at any point of time,” one of the protesters said at the venue.

According to Ajay Shankar Pandey, the district magistrate of Ghaziabad, “The Delhi police had diverted the traffic after the Delhi-Ghaziabad carriageway was blocked by farmers on Tuesday. The farmers, however, vacated the carriageway around 3pm and traffic from Delhi was restored to normal.”

Shailendra Singh, additional district magistrate (city), said that the farmers’ leaders had assured the administration that their protest on the highway will go on from 11am to 3pm.

The UP police, meanwhile, took no action when farmers occupied the Delhi-Ghaziabad carriageway on Tuesday morning but they were severe and resorted to lathicharge on protesters of a political outfit, who arrived and tried to join the farmers’ protest at UP Gate.

“Seven people were detained and taken into preventive custody, and were shifted from the protest site,” said Kalanidhi Naithani, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad.