Cops use tear gas to prevent agitating farmers from entering Delhi
Haryana police fired teargas shells at farmers as they marched from Punjab to Delhi this morning after talks with Union ministers failed. This created panic and stampede at the Shambhu border near Ambala. Officials say police lobbed tear gas squibs when some youths in the Delhi march tried to breach the barricades.
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Haryana police fired teargas shells at farmers as they marched from Punjab to Delhi this morning after talks with Union ministers failed. This created panic and stampede at the Shambhu border near Ambala. Officials say police lobbed tear gas squibs when some youths in the Delhi march tried to breach the barricades.
The farmers' unions of Punjab started the Delhi march from 10 am today after talks with Union ministers over various demands including legal guarantee of MSP for crops remained inconclusive. As convoys of farmers from several parts of Punjab headed towards Shambhu border in tractors and trolleys, the situation became tense at the inter-state border. The government has made heavy security arrangements to prevent farmers from going to Delhi. The borders of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi have been strongly fortified.
Under the banner of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), farmers are trying to march towards Delhi from Ambala-Shambhu, Khanori-Jind and Dabwali borders. The farmers of Punjab started their march from Fatehgarh Sahib at around 10 am today. A convoy of farmers headed towards the national capital from Mehal Kalan in Sangrur through the Khanori border.
Roads have been blocked with concrete blocks, iron nails and barbed wire at several places on the Haryana-Punjab border to prevent the farmers from sneaking into Delhi. The Haryana government has imposed Section 144 in 15 districts banning any kind of demonstration or march with tractors and trolleys. Security at the Delhi border has also been stepped up with multi-layer barricades and concrete blocks.
A five-hour meeting of farmer leaders with Union Ministers Arjun Munda and Piyush Goyal in Chandigarh on Monday night was fruitless. After the meeting, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said, "The government just wants to take time. We have tried our best to have a long talk with the ministers and come up with a decision. But nothing like that happened... 'Delhi March' is very much on.
Farmer leaders present at the meeting told Rural Voice that the government wants to set up a committee on the issues of legal guarantee of MSP, loan waiver and implementation of recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission. But farmer leaders rejected the proposal. The government had also constituted a committee on the MSP issue two years ago, the report of which has not come out till date.
In Fatehgarh Sahib ahead of the Delhi march, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher condemned heavy barricading on the Punjab-Haryana borders, saying the state's borders has been transformed into "international borders".
Pandher said, "It doesn't look like Punjab and Haryana are two states. It looks like they have become an international border. Concrete walls have been erected on the Punjab and Haryana border. We grow foodgrains but they have grown nails for us."
United Kisan Morcha (non-political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal says the government does not agree with us on bringing MSP guarantee law, he wants to form a committee on it and he does not agree with us on debt waiver. "Given enough time but now we have to go to Delhi!"
Dallewal said the meeting went on for quite some time, discussing every demand. These demands are promises made by the government at different times that have not been fulfilled. That is why we are back to protesting. Our Delhi march will continue.
However, after the meeting, Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda said, “There were serious talks with farmers’ organisations. The government always wants solutions to come out through negotiations... On most issues we reached consensus, but on some issues we asked to form committees for permanent solutions... We still believe that any problem can be solved through negotiations. The farmers need to understand that the Government of India is committed to protect the interests of the farmers and there should be no hardship to them as well as the public."
The agitating farmers demand implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations besides legal guarantees for Minimum Support Price (MSP), pensions for farmers and agricultural labourers, waiver of agricultural loans, withdrawal of cases registered in police, victims of Lakhimpuri Kheeri violence.
They are demanding justice, restoration of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation for the families of the farmers killed during the last agitation.
