Chandigarh: Stating that they have not got any response from the Centre for talks over their demands till Saturday evening, the farmer leaders said they would resume their “Delhi Chalo’’ protest foot-march to press for their demands on Sunday.
Addressing newspersons, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said that since they have not received any message from the Centre for holding the talks over their demands, the farmers have decided to resume their “Delhi chalo’’ protest foot-march – under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha – with 101 farmers, on December 8 in a peaceful manner.
It may be recalled that the farmers had on Friday halted their protest foot-march for the day after several farmers got injured in the teargas shelling by Haryana police at Shambhu border. Pandher said that the farmers “jatha’’ (group) had been called off, not the protest march to Delhi and that they would wait till Saturday for talks with the government, else, a `jatha’ of 101 farmers would again march towards Delhi on December 8 at noon.
As announced, the farmers group had on started their foot-march on Friday from their protest site at the Shambhu border (of Punjab and Haryana) on the Amritsar-Delhi national highway (NH-44) but was stopped by the Haryana police and paramilitary forces a few meters short of multi-layered barricading erected by Haryana authorities, following which the Haryana police and Central forces had rained teargas shells leaving several protesters injured.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government had suspended mobile internet and SMS services suspended in nearby 11 villages, including Dangdehri, Lohgarh, Manakpur, Dadiyaan, Bari Ghel, Lhar, Kalu Majra, Devi Nagar, Saddopur and Sultanpur, so as to avert possible spread of misinformation pertaining to the protest.
For record, farmers have been protesting to press for their various demands including legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for their crops and loan waiver.
The December 8 protest would mark the fourth attempt by the farmers to lead their protest march to Delhi, while the earlier attempts had witnessed violent conflicts on February 13 and 21 and December 6.
