Kisan unions, cops agree on routes for march from Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri
The Delhi Police on Saturday gave permission to protesting farmers’ unions to hold their tractor rally on January 26 in the city. Meanwhile, Anil Mittal, the Additional Public Relations Officer (APRO) of Delhi Police, claimed that the police and farmers’ unions are in final stage of talks for the routes regarding tractor rally.
After attending the meeting with the Delhi Police, its counterparts Haryana and Uttar Pradesh Police, farmers’ union member Abhimanyu Kohar said the tractor parades will start from Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri border points of Delhi, but details will be finalised on Saturday night.
Kohar claimed that the Delhi Police has given its nod to the farmers’ tractor parade on Republic Day in the national Capital.
Another farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni said as thousands of farmers will participate in the parade, there will be no single route. Farmer leader Darshan Pal said barricades set up at Delhi border points will be removed on January 26 and farmers will take out tractor rallies after entering the national Capital.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting at several Delhi border points against the Centre’s new agriculture laws for nearly two months. The unions representing the farmers have begun holding tractor rallies at villages in Punjab to mobilise people for the demonstration on Republic Day.
The farmers are vehemently opposing the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020.
Enacted in September last year, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP (minimum support price) and do away with the “mandi” (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.