Farmers' protest: Delhi Police starts removing barricades at Tikri border

The Delhi Police on Thursday night started removing roadblocks placed at the Tikri border point where farmers have been protesting against the Centre's three farm laws, with sources indicating that one carriageway of the road will open in the coming days.

The move comes days after a Supreme Court hearing that saw farmer unions arguing that the police were responsible for the blockade at the Delhi borders.

The police had put multiple layers of barricades on the roads, complete with giant nails and huge concrete blocks as thousands of farmers had tried to cross Delhi borders in November last year.

Four out of the eight layers of barricades at the Tikri border have been removed. However, the cement barricades are still there and the road remains closed for commuters, an officer said.

In videos doing the rounds on social media, JCB machines were seen removing blockades at the Tikri border.

Sources in the Delhi Police said that such exercise is likely to be launched at Singhu and Ghazipur border points in the coming days.

Thousands of farmers have been camping at the three borders points --- Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur --- protesting the Centre's three farm laws since November 26, 2020.

About the removal of blockades at the Tikri Border on Thursday night, a senior police officer said some layers of barricades that were placed by the police have been removed.

"The arrangement at the Tikri border in terms of infrastructure has been reduced. Seven to eight layers of different types of barricades were placed earlier and we have removed some of them," the officer said.

This is done as a move to open the road for traffic soon, he said.

"At present, there is no traffic flow as the roads are closed. Barricades will be completely removed soon to slowly ease the flow of traffic," the officer added.

The Supreme Court on October 21 had said farmers protesting at Delhi borders against the three farms laws have the right to agitate but they cannot block roads indefinitely even as the farmer unions and the government got embroiled in a blame game.

While the farmers' unions alleged that the police were responsible for the blockade as it suits them to allow a feeling among citizens that farmers are blocking the road, the Centre said there was an oblique purpose behind the protests.

After the court hearing, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), whose supporters and office-bearers led by Rakesh Tikait are camping at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border since November 2020, had said the barriers at the protest site have been put by the Delhi police and not farmers.

Tikait, the national spokesperson of the BKU, said protesters at Ghazipur have cleared the path on a service lane leading to the national capital but Delhi Police's barricades were still present there.