Punjab: Delhi ready for farmers’ march, security beefed up at border points

Punjab: Delhi Police has tightened security at the borders ahead of the march of Punjab farmers into the national capital on Friday. “Delhi Police is on alert and security has been beefed up at the border points of the city. A slight deployment has been made at Singhu border but it may be increased as per the situation at Shambhu border on Punjab-Haryana border,” a senior police officer said. He said traffic is likely to be affected due to the security arrangements at the border and central part of Delhi. The police is also monitoring developments at the Noida border, where another group of farmers from Uttar Pradesh are staging a sit-in, the officer said. The farmers, mainly demanding a legal guarantee of minimum support price for crops, had earlier attempted to march into the national capital on February 13 and February 21 but were stopped by security forces at Shambhu and Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border. Farmers under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points since then. On Wednesday, the district administration of Ambala in Haryana asked Punjab farmers to reconsider their proposed march to Delhi and consider further action only after getting permission from the Delhi Police. However, the Delhi Police said they had not received any request from Punjab farmers to march to Delhi. The Ambala administration has imposed Section 163 of the BNSS, banning the assembly of five or more persons in the district, and issued notices at the protest site near the Shambhu border. On Monday, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said a delegation of farmers met the Ambala Superintendent of Police and informed him about their padayatra march to Delhi on December 6. Pandher said the delegation has assured the police that the march will be peaceful and traffic on the route will not be blocked. Apart from MSP, farmers are demanding loan waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers and no hike in power rates. They are also demanding “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, restoration of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation for the families of farmers killed during the previous agitation in 2020-21.