New Delhi:
Police withdrew on Monday its additional force who were deployed across the borders in Delhi during the farmers’ tractor parade.
According to an order issued by Special Commissioner of Police (Operation and Licensing) Muktesh Chander, as desired by the police commissioner, the entire staff will go back to their respective districts or units with effect from Tuesday.
All districts where the additional force is deployed are directed to relieve the force by 6 pm on Monday with the direction to report to their respective district or unit for further duties, it said.
The districts may mobilise additional force from their own resources to augment police arrangements, it added.
To maintain law and order during the farmers’ tractor parade, thousands of security personnel had been deployed at several border points.
In a circular, Police Commissioner S N Srivastava had directed all officers and personnel, as well as the paramilitary forces, posted for the Republic Day Parade security arrangements to be prepared for an extended deployment to maintain law and order in the wake of the tractor parade.
Thousands of protesting farmers had clashed with police during the tractor parade called by farmer unions on Republic Day to highlight their demand for repeal of the Centre’s three farm laws.
Many protesters reached the Red Fort and entered the monument. Some protesters even hoisted religious flags on its domes and the flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting since November-end at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh demanding rollback of the 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.
The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations. PTI
