The Haryana government on Sunday restored mobile internet and bulk SMS services in seven districts – Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa – bordering Punjab, reported PTI.
The services had been suspended on February 11, two days before farmers’ groups from Punjab began their march to Delhi to push for a law guaranteeing a minimum support price for agricultural commodities. On Saturday, leaders of farmers’ groups announced that they have put the march on hold till February 29.
Thousands of protestors, led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha unions, have been stationed at various locations on the Punjab-Haryana border since February 13, when the Haryana Police used water cannons, drones and tear gas shells to stop the farmers from entering the state.
The Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab has also accused the Haryana Police of using pellet guns against the marching farmers. On February 21, a protestor, Shubhkaran Singh, died after he sustained an alleged bullet wound to the head during a police firing at Khanauri village.
On Saturday, the Delhi police announced that the capital’s borders with Haryana, at Singhu and Tikri, will be partially reopened after they were barricaded almost two weeks ago, to prevent farmers from entering the national capital, reported PTI.
On Saturday, an injured protestor named Pritpal Singh was transferred from a hospital in Haryana’s Rohtak town to Chandigarh at the Punjab government’s request. Singh had been injured in a clash at Shambu on Wednesday.
Punjab Chief Secretary Anurag Verma had on Saturday written to his Haryana counterpart demanding that Singh be handed over to the Punjab authorities.
On Sunday, former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh condemned the Haryana Police’s “barbaric act of violence” against Pritpal Singh.
“I urge Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar to take strict action against the policemen who are guilty of badly beating up an unarmed youngster who was just serving langar [food] to people,” said Singh.
Singh, a former Congress leader, is now a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party that is currently in power in Haryana.
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