Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Srivastava on Monday said that cops and farmer leaders have visited the route for the Kisan Tractor Rally scheduled to take place on Republic Day on Tuesday. He also said that the police have taken cognisance of possible anti-national elements.
“We have been speaking with farmer leaders for the last six to seven days and are having very good coordination. Based on our discussions, we have mutually agreed on three routes for the rally. We (police and farmer leaders) have visited the routes,” he told the media.
“Various essential terms and conditions, not just for people of Delhi but also for farmers themselves have been spelt out. With the Republic Day parade and the farmer rally taking place at the same time, some anti-national elements might take advantage of the situation. We have taken cognisance of this and are being careful. We will not hold back from taking necessary steps if needed,” he added.
Earlier, farmers leaders had expressed dismay at the routes assigned for the rally. “We feel that the kind of permission granted to us for tractor rally is not right. We wanted to go to the old Ring Road but we were given conditional permission and assigned the portion that comes largely under Haryana,” Sukhwinder Singh Sabhra of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee told ANI.
Special Commissioner of Police (CP), Intelligence in Delhi Police, Dependra Pathak has said on Sunday, “The tractor rally will enter Delhi from Tikri, Singhu, and Ghazipur borders and return to its originating points. From Singhu, it will pass through Kanjhawala, Bawana, Auchandi border, KMP Expressway, and then return to Singhu.”
Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since 26 November against the three newly enacted farm laws—Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. WITH ANI INPUTS