New Delhi:
Farmers protesting against the Centre’s new farm laws at north Delhi’s Sant Nirankari ground took out a tractor march in Burari amid heavy security on Thursday. The farmers at the north Delhi’s DDA ground took out the march with around 20 tractors to show solidarity with thousands of farmers who took out a similar marches from various protest sites against the three agriculture laws on Thursday.
According to the protesting farm unions, these marches were a ”rehearsal” for their proposed January 26 ”Kisan parade” to the national capital from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. ”With around 20 tractors, the protesting farmers here took out a short rally along the road adjacent to the ground. There were hardly two-three farmers on each of the tractor and the rally went smoothly. Barricades were put up as part of the security deployment in the area,” a senior police officer said. After facing tear gas, water cannons and clashing with security personnel at Delhi borders, hundreds of farmers had entered the national capital to hold protest at the north Delhi ground, where the Delhi Police had allowed them to hold demonstration peacefully. Ahead of talks with the government, thousands of farmers took out tractor-march from protest sites of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders and Haryana’s Rewasan against the three agriculture laws amid heavy police deployment on Thursday. The eighth round of talks between protesting unions and the central government is scheduled to be held on Friday.
The last meeting remained inconclusive on Monday as farmer groups stuck to their demand for the repeal of the three laws, while the government listed out various benefits of the new acts for the growth of the country’s agriculture sector. Braving severe cold and sporadic rains, thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and some other parts of the country have been camping at several Delhi border points for over 40 days, demanding repeal of the farm laws, a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops and other two issues.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the MSP and do away with the ”mandi” (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
