With protesting farmers planning a march to Delhi on February 13, the police on Sunday issued orders prohibiting large gatherings in the northeastern parts of the city, India Today reported.
The Haryana government has suspended internet services in seven districts from Sunday till February 13.
More than 200 farmers’ unions are planning to march to Delhi on February 13 to urge the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre to enact a law guaranteeing a minimum support price for agricultural commodities. The farmers also demanded that those whose lands were acquired by the government be adequately compensated and that police cases against protestors be withdrawn.
A minimum support price is the rate at which the government buys farm produce and is based on a calculation of at least one and a half times the cost of production incurred by farmers.
On Sunday, the Delhi Police issued an order prohibiting large gatherings at all borders between the national capital and Uttar Pradesh, reported the Hindustan Times. Orders prohibiting large gatherings have also been imposed in areas under the jurisdiction of the north east Delhi district.
The order, issued under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, also banned vehicles carrying protestors from entering Delhi.
Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda and Nityanand Rai will meet leaders of farmers’ groups Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher in Chandigarh on Monday, reported India Today.
To stop the protests from reaching the national capital, the BJP government in Haryana has sealed the Shambhu border with Punjab in Ambala. The state government also ordered that bulk SMS services be suspended till February 13.
Visuals on social media showed the police in Ambala using stones and barricades to prevent protestors from crossing the Shambhu border.
Aam Aadmi Party leader and Chief Minister of Punjab Bhagwant Mann urged the Centre to listen to farmers’ demands instead of setting up “borders between India and Punjab”.
Mann said: “They [Haryana government] are installing fencing on the Punjab border. I request the central government to engage in talks with farmers. Please avoid creating an India-Punjab ‘border’.”
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