Farmers in Haryana on Friday took to the streets in protest against the contentious farm Bills passed by Parliament recently. Agitating farmers blocked roads, including highways, railway tracks to press the Centre for the withdrawal of the legislations, which are yet to get the assent of the President. Road blockades caused hardships to commuters in the State. Haryana farmers held the agitation as part of a nationwide shutdown call given by a group of farmers’ organisations against the three farm reform bills passed in the Parliament during the recently concluded Monsoon session.
The protest has remained peaceful so far with no major incidents of violence reported. The impact of protests was seen in small towns and big cities of Karnal, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Kaithal and Panipat districts in varying degrees.
Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union president Gurnam Singh Chaduni said that all farmers participated in the nationwide protest in all districts of the State which went off peacefully. All the sections of society including traders, shopkeepers have come out in support of farmers against these bills. Farmers would continue to raise demands seeking a law which ensures assured Minimum Support Price (MSP) of the crops, he added.
Senior Haryana Police officer said that as of now, no incident of violence has been reported as the protests remained peaceful. Heavy police deployment has been made at the protest spots.
Meanwhile, the protesting farmers burnt the copies of the farm reform bills passed by the Parliament in Kurukshetra and Kaithal. The movement of traffic on the busy NH44, popularly known as Delhi-Chandigarh national highway, remained normal in the morning but was later diverted to the Ladwa-Babain-Shahab highway from Kurukshetra’s Pipli to avoid traffic snarls, following reports of protests in neighbouring Punjab.
The protesting farmers sat on dharnas, blocking traffic movement on highways by parking their tractor-trailers and cars on roads in Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Karnal, and Kaithal districts.
Karnal-Ladwa-Yamunanagar highway near Ladwa town, Karnal-Assandh-Jind road near Jalmaba Village of Karnal, Shahbad-Saha road near Shahbad, Yamunangar-Kurukshetra road near Radaur of Yamunangagar district had been blocked.
The farmers associated with Bharatiya Kisan Union or BKU, (Charuni), have also blocked the Ambala-Yamunanagar-Saharanpur railway track near Sudhal village of Yamunanagar district.
In the morning, there was no major impact in the cities as the shops and the markets remained opened but later farmers carrying black flags were seen in several cities, requesting the shopkeepers and trade unions to shut down in support of the Bharat Bandh Call by closing their shops from 10am to 4pm. Most of the grain markets are also closed and there is no procurement of paddy in the mandis as the commission agents have also extended their support to the protests.