Farmers from Punjab, who had announced plans to march towards Delhi to demand a discussion on Minimum Support Price (MSP), broke police barriers near the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida on Monday and began moving towards the capital. However, after talks with the police, the farmers left the protest site, and the authorities removed the barricades, allowing traffic to return to normal.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Pawan Khatana spoke to reporters about the farmers’ demands, including compensation and the Land Acquisition Act. “In 2013, the farmers of Gautam Buddha Nagar fought for the Land Acquisition Act and got it passed, but it has not been implemented. No farmer has received four times the compensation. There has been no increase in the circle rate,” he said. Khatana emphasized that farmers are being displaced due to the airport project and vowed to continue their protest until there is a change in the displacement policy. “We will continue moving forward till the time we reach where we are supposed to… We haven’t blocked the road. The administration did it. We were marching forward as per our plan. They blocked the road, this is why we have stopped temporarily,” he added.
Joint CP Law and Order Noida, Shivhari Meena, told ANI, “The farmers had announced the ‘Delhi Challo’ march today and we were continuously holding talks with them. The farmers have told their demands to the officials and officials have given them an assurance. The traffic has returned to normalcy.”
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With the first group of farmers, led by the Bharatiya Kisan Parishad, beginning their march on Monday, police had set up barricades and issued advisories for commuters traveling from Noida to Delhi. The protesters were scheduled to begin their march from the Maha Maya flyover in Noida at noon.
Sagar Singh Kalsi, Additional Commissioner of Police, Eastern Range of Delhi Police, explained that due to the farmers’ protest, robust arrangements had been made at all major and minor borders in East Delhi. “We have done barricading, have anti-riot equipment. There is an elaborate arrangement, we are also ensuring that common people won’t get affected, we are also coordinating with traffic police. We are doing drone surveillance,” Kalsi added.
Meanwhile, photos from the protest showed the scale of the farmers’ efforts as they broke the police barricades. Joint CP Sanjay Kumar stated that Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita had been imposed in the national capital due to the ongoing Parliament session. “The Mahamaya flyover, be it the district border, DND or Kalindi, extra deployment of personnel has been done to ensure that the crowd cannot enter without permission. CAPF, local police, barricading have been done at the borders…Surveillance is also being done through drones,” Kumar added.
This move by the farmers came just hours after the Supreme Court urged Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal to persuade the protesting farmers not to obstruct highways and inconvenience the public. Dallewal, who is on a hunger strike at the Khanauri border, is pressing the government to accept the farmers’ demands.
While dismissing a habeas corpus plea filed on behalf of Dallewal, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the issue raised by the farmers had been considered in a pending matter. “In a democratic setup, you can engage in peaceful protests but do not cause inconvenience to people. You all know that the Khanauri border is a lifeline for Punjab. We are not commenting on whether the protest is right or wrong,” the bench told advocate Guninder Kaur Gill, representing Dallewal.
Farmers, under the banners of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), have been protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, after their march to the national capital was blocked by security forces. The farmers claim that the Centre has not taken any steps to address their demands, with no talks since February 18. Besides a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are seeking the implementation of recommendations by the Swaminathan Commission, pension for farmers and farm laborers, a farm debt waiver, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation for the families of farmers who died during the previous 2020-21 agitation.
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