 "farmers")
The Haryana government fortified the state’s borders with neighbouring states while suspending mobile internet and bulk SMS services in several districts on Sunday, a day ahead of the second round of negotiations in Chandigarh between the protesting farmers and representatives from the Central government.
The elaborate security measures were taken amid calls given by farmer organisations to march to the national capital on February 13 to press for their pending demands, including the enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops. Besides MSP, the farmers also demand the 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.
“We will have a second round of discussion with the Central ministers tomorrow in Chandigarh, but in the meantime, our preparations for the February 13 march are in full swing with thousands of tractors ready to march towards the national capital,” Abhimanyu Kohar, a prominent farmer leader and spokesman of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) (apolitical) told Business Standard.
The Haryana government has unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on the agitating farmers to create fear, he said, asserting that the farmers are determined to ahead with their proposed 'Delhi chalo' march.
To prevent any untoward incident, authorities in Haryana sealed the state's border with Punjab at Shambhu near Ambala district by placing concrete blocks, sandbags, barbed wires and anti-riot vehicles on the road. Iron barricades have been installed along roadsides on the Ghaggar flyover to prevent protesters from attacking security personnel. Water cannons have also been kept ready.
Police have also made elaborate arrangements at the state's borders with Punjab in the Jind and Fatehabad districts to stop the march. In Fatehabad, concrete blocks and spike strips have been placed on a road in the Jakhal area. At the Tohana border, authorities have placed sand-laden containers, concrete blocks and cemented three-layer nails on the road.
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in Jind, two roads near the Haryana-Punjab border have been shut for vehicular movement and restrictions imposed on two more roads, a police official said on Sunday. The Haryana government has also suspended mobile internet services and bulk SMS services in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts from February 11 to 13.
"We are ready for talks and will never run away from dialogue. On one hand, talks are going on with the Centre and on the other hand, the state government is creating terror. What the Khattar government is doing is unfortunate and condemnable," said SKM (non-political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, slamming the Haryana government for stopping farmers’ Delhi march.
"Why is the government scared? Huge barricading was being done. Is this democracy?” he asked, warning, in a video message, that ”If the situation turns bad, it will be the responsibility of the Khattar government.
He said the government had "promised" a legal guarantee on MSP during the stir against the now-repealed three farm laws. The farmer leader said the government had "promised" to withdraw the cases against farmers.
In the first round of negotiations of farmers with Food Minister Piyush Goyal, Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda and Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, the ministers reportedly sought more time to address their concerns as it involved inter-ministerial consultations.
The Punjab government was represented by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Barricades have also been put up and police checking intensified along the Ghazipur border, one of the sites of the 2020-21 farmers' stir. The farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, held a year-long protest on Delhi's border points - Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur - against the three central farm laws.
The ongoing agitation is being spearheaded by SKM (apolitical) which is an offshoot of the original SKM that held the year-long sit-in on Delhi borders a few years ago.
The Haryana Police on Saturday issued a traffic advisory, asking commuters to take alternative routes in view of the restrictions imposed ahead of the march. Police have also been holding meetings with village sarpanchs and khap panchayats to encourage them to stay away from the march.
