Strong barricading and heavy deployment of police force at the Shambhu border once again thwarted the attempt of Punjab farmers to march towards Delhi on Tuesday.
On the call of ‘Desh Bachao Morcha’, hundreds of farmers had left for Kisan Ghat to attend a Mahapanchayat against the India-US Trade Deal. However, they were stopped at the Shambhu Border by the Ambala police.
After finding the strong barricading and deployment, the farmers started a dharna at the border and criticized the Haryana government for stopping them.
Meanwhile, a large number of farmers from Ambala and Kurukshetra who attempted to reach Delhi were also detained by the police at various locations in Kurukshetra. While a group of farmers led by BKU (Pehowa) led by its spokesperson Prince Waraich was detained at Police lines in Kurukshetra, another group of farmers under the banner of BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) was stopped on NH-44 in Shahabad. After being denied permission to march ahead, the farmers staged a dharna in Shahabad.
Later, Haryana Agriculture Minister Shyam Singh Rana and Deputy Commissioner Ambala Ajay Singh Tomer held a discussion with the farmer leaders including Sarwan Singh Pandher, Tejveer Singh and others, at the Shambhu border. The farmers handed over a memorandum to the agriculture minister in support of their demands, including a meeting with the Union agriculture minister and release of the detained leaders.
Minister Shyam Singh Rana said, “The memorandum of the farmers will be forwarded to the appropriate authority so that the issues can be resolved. A meeting with the Union agriculture minister or whoever the centre government designates will be arranged in 10 days.”
After the meeting between the farmer leaders and Shyam Singh Rana, the farmers who were detained in Haryana, including BKU (Charuni) president Gurnam Singh Charuni and spokesman Rakesh Bains, were released, following which the farmers ended their agitation.
Gurnam Singh Charuni said, “The farmers wanted to hold a peaceful protest against the India-US Trade Deal. The government is going to hand over the food security of the nation to other countries and it will have devastating results. The government may have apprehension that farmers may join the ongoing protest of Cockroach Janta Party in Delhi. We support them as they have been raising genuine issues, but we had a Mahapanchayat at Kisan Ghat. The government should accept our demands; otherwise, the farmers will continue to protest strongly.”
BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) spokesman Tejveer Singh said, “The Shambhu border was sealed without any prior notice and it caused inconvenience to all. The Ambala administration offered a meeting with the state agriculture minister and the minister has assured to arrange a meeting with the centre government. A dialogue with the government has started over the issue of the India-US trade deal. The next call of morcha will be given after the meeting with the centre government.”
SP Ambala Ajit Singh Shekhawat said, “Following the assurance of the agriculture minister, the farmers have called off their march and they have vacated the border. The traffic movement has been restored. Shambhu border is a sensitive location and the strength of farmers was also on the higher side here. To maintain the law-and-order situation and stop the farmers from marching towards Delhi, strong barricading was done and 10 companies were deployed. The paramilitary forces were also kept on standby. However, the agitation went off peacefully, and no force was used.”
Earlier during the day, the commuters faced inconvenience as the routes for the traffic heading towards Punjab were diverted. Even the ambulances found no direct link to reach their destination. The district administrations in Ambala and Kurukshetra imposed sections 163 of BNSS to maintain the law-and-order situation.