Authorities have fortified the national capital by barricading the border areas and deploying more than 5,000 security personnel, ahead of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on February 13.
In addition to the concrete barricades, road spikes, barbed wires and thousands of police personnel have been deployed along the interstate border.
Earlier, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Nityanand Rai and Arjun Munda met farmers in Chandigarh on Monday in connection to the ongoing protest.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have announced that more than 200 farm unions will march to Delhi on February 13.
Why are Farmers Protesting?
- The mega protest being held by the farmers are intended to make the Centre accept their list of demands.
- The farm bodies are demanding a law guaranteeing a minimum support price (MSP), one of the conditions they had set when they agreed to withdraw their agitation against the now-repealed farm laws in 2021.
- Thousands of farmers from around 100 villages, including women and elderly, also joined the march, to press for their demands for hiked compensation and developed plots in lieu of their land acquired by local development authorities in Noida and Greater Noida in the past.
- Besides a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP), the farmers are also demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Police Restrictions and Advisory Ahead of Protest
Meanwhile, Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora said that Section 144 has been imposed in the entire Delhi ahead of farmers’ call for March to Delhi on February 13.
Section 144 was also imposed at the Ghazipur, Tikri and Singhu border in Uttar Pradesh to avoid any untoward incident and maintain law and order. According to the Delhi Police order, the gathering of public at all borders between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and nearby areas in the jurisdictional area of northeast district will be prohibited.
The Delhi Traffic Police on Sunday issued an advisory ahead of farmers’ ‘Delhi Chalo’ march’. The police have advised vehicle owners to follow the advisory to know about the traffic restrictions/diversions.
Union Ministers and Farmer Leaders Conduct Talks
A team of Union ministers on Monday evening began talks here with farmer leaders in a bid to dissuade them from their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press the Centre for enactment of a law on minimum support price for crops.
The ministers, including food and consumer affairs minister Piyush Goyal and agriculture minister Arjun Munda, were holding the second round of talks with the farmer leaders. Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher, among others, were also a part of the meeting.
Huge Security, Multi-layered Barricading at Borders
Massive deployment of police and paramilitary personnel besides multi-layered barricading have taken place to seal the national capital borders at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur to prevent the protesting farmers from entering the city during their scheduled ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on Tuesday.
The police are also using drones to keep a tight vigil at border points, an official said, adding that they are fully prepared to deal with any law and order situation.
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