 "Farmers take cover inside a container as police fire tear gas during a protest, as farmers march towards New Delhi at Shambhu barrier, a border crossing between Punjab and Haryana states, India, February 21, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi")
The protesting farmers on Wednesday suspended their 'Delhi Chalo’ march' for two days and will decide the next course of action on Friday after a protestor was killed and several others were injured in clashes on the Punjab-Haryana border.
Farmer leader Baldev Singh Sirsa identified the dead farmer as Subhkaran Singh (21). A resident of Baloke village in Punjab's Bathinda district, Subhkaran died at Khanauri border point on the Sangrur-Jind border.
Punjab farmers at Khanauri and Shambhu resumed their agitation early in the morning after the fourth round of talks on Sunday night with a panel of three Union ministers in an attempt to break the deadlock. Earlier in the morning, agriculture minister Arjun Munda offered to sit with protesting farmers for a fifth round of talks on all outstanding issues including the vexed issue of Minimum Support Price (MSP), while appealing to the farmers to maintain peace.
"After four rounds of talks, the government is ready for the fifth round of discussions on all issues like MSP, diversification of crops, stubble burning and pending cases. I invite all the farmer leaders for another round of talks. We need to maintain peace," Munda said in a statement.
To press the Centre to accept their demands, thousands of farmers will remain camped at the two border points during the pause in the agitation. The farmers have been camping at the border points since February 13 along with their tractor-trolleys, mini-vans and pickup trucks. Heavy earthmoving equipment, including excavators, and modified tractors were also seen at the protest sites, with police cautioning that these might be used to break barricades and cause harm to security personnel.
Also Read
In a post on X, the Haryana Police asked owners of excavators to withdraw their machines from the protest sites, saying they may be used to cause harm to security forces.
"It is a non-bailable offence and you may be held criminally liable," police said.
The Haryana Police on Tuesday had urged its Punjab police to seize bulldozers and other earthmoving equipment from the inter-state border points, saying protesters might use these to break barricades. These could pose a threat to security forces, Haryana Director General of Police Shatrujeet Kapoor said in an urgent communication to his Punjab counterpart Gaurav Yadav.
During the last round of talks, which ended past midnight on Sunday, the panel of three Union ministers had proposed buying five crops - moong dal, urad dal, tur dal, maize and cotton - from farmers at MSP for five years through central agencies.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the 'Delhi Chalo' march to press the government to accept the farmers' demands. Talks between the farmer leaders and three Union ministers - Piyush Goyal, Munda and Nityananad Rai - were held on February 8, 12, 15 and 18.
The farmers are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.
