Farmers, going towards Delhi on their vehicles were stopped at Bastara toll plaza of Karnal, reportedly forcing them to begin a sit on National Highway, causing long queues of vehicles and disrupting traffic from Karnal to Panipat on the highway.
Police officers attempted to persuade the farmers, but they remained adamant and demanded permission to travel to Delhi.
During the protest, farmer leaders announced that if they were not allowed to enter Delhi with vehicles, they would march to the capital on foot. Following this announcement, the farmers abandoned their vehicles at the toll plaza and started marching towards Delhi on foot.
The farmers walked to Gharaunda town of the Karnal district. However, they were stopped by the police at Gharaunda town also and taken to a local rest house.
DSP Gharaunda Manoj Kumar spoke with the farmer leaders and appealed to them to return. There was a talk between the administration and farmers’ leaders in the rest house, but the farmers insisted on being allowed to proceed to Delhi, while the administration, citing law and order concerns, refused to allow them to proceed.
Later, the protesting farmers were taken back to the Bastara toll plaza in buses and then the farmers returned to their homes from the toll plaza, from where they had started their foot march after police stopped their vehicles earlier in the day.
The police and administration remained fully alert throughout the incident. Tight security arrangements were made from the Bastara toll plaza to the Gharaunda rest house.
Sanju Gundiana, Yamunanagar district president of BKU (Charuni) said that the government had suppressed the rights of farmers by stopping them on the way to Delhi, where they were going to participate in the Kisan Mahapanchayat.
“The proposed free trade deal between India and the US could pose a major threat to the country’s farmers, who are already burdened by debt and rising costs. It will be impossible for small and marginal farmers to compete with foreign companies and large US agricultural producers,” said Sanju Gundiana.
He said that if this deal was implemented, foreign agricultural producers would enter the Indian market at cheap prices, making it more difficult for Indian farmers to secure fair prices for their crops.