Haryana Police on Wednesday fired tear gas shells at protesting farmers’ groups from Punjab at the Shambhu state border as the protestors resumed their march to Delhi.
The farmers resumed their march on Wednesday morning, days after rejecting the Centre’s proposal of buying five crops at minimum support price through cooperatives, reported PTI.
The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), two umbrella bodies of around 200 farmers’ and farm labourer unions, had last week called for a protest march to Delhi to press the Union government to accept their 21-point demand charter.
They are primarily seeking a law guaranteeing a minimum support price for agricultural commodities and the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Commission Report’s wider recommendations on farming in India.
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 the farmers.
On Tuesday, the farmer groups said they will resume their protest march as they rejected Centre’s proposal of buying five crops – maize, cotton, three pulses – at minimum support price through cooperatives for five years.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab have been stopped at Shambhu border as Haryana Police has barricaded it with concrete structures and barbed wires.
On Wednesday, the Haryana Police asked owners and operators of bulldozers and other earthmover machines to withdraw their equipment.
“Do not provide your equipments to the protestors and withdraw them from the protest site if already done, as they may be used to cause harm to security forces,” the police said in a social media post. “It is a non-bailable offence and you may be held criminally liable.”
Punjab Health Minister had claimed last week that three protestors were blinded when the Haryana Police used pellet guns on the farmers. The Haryana Police, however, claimed that they had only fired tear gas and rubber pellets at the protestors.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police have also bolstered its borders with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana as it expected protestors to enter the national capital. The police have also barricaded the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur with protruding nails and dumper trailers packed with sand, apart from cranes and earthmovers.
More than 2,000 security personnel have been deployed at the Singhu border, and over 1,000 personnel will be at the Ghazipur border, reported the Hindustan Times. At Tikri border, the Delhi Police have deployed 5,000 personnel and the entry and exit points of the Tikri Border metro station have also been barricaded.
On Tuesday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court said that tractor trolleys cannot be used on highways, reported the Hindustan Times.
The court was hearing a plea that sought directions to lift prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and the suspension of mobile internet services and bulk SMS in five districts of Haryana due to the farmers’ agitation.
“According to the Motor Vehicle Act, you cannot use tractor-trolleys on the highway,” the court said. “You are travelling from Amritsar to Delhi on trolleys.”
Sarvan Singh Pandher, the general secretary of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee on Wednesday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end the protest by announcing a law guaranteeing minimum support price guarantee, reported ANI.
“The country will not forgive such a government,” he told the news agency. “There are paramilitary forces deployed in the villages of Haryana. What crime have we committed? We have made you the prime minister. We never thought that the forces would oppress us this way. Please protect the Constitution and let us peacefully head towards Delhi. This is our right.”
Meanwhile, Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda on Tuesday appealed to the protestors to maintain peace.
“We all want peace and we should together find a solution for this issue,” Munda told ANI. “We tried to hold the discussion from the government’s side and several proposals were also discussed. We have come to know that they [farmers] are not satisfied with the proposals but this discussion should continue and we must find a solution to it peacefully.”
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