Delhi Chalo farmers try to break roadblocks

Chandigarh/New Delhi: Farmers from Punjab clashed with Haryana Police at two border points between the states on Tuesday, facing tear gas and water cannons as they tried to break past barricades blocking their protest march to the national capital. Police lobbed tear gas shells – some of them dropped from a drone – and tried to disperse groups of stone-pelting protesters in the face-off that last several hours at Shambhu border near Ambala in Haryana.

Haryana Police hurled tear gas canisters against the ‘Delhi Chalo' protesters at the border in state's Jind district as well. Water cannons too were deployed there. Seven police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police, were brought to the Ambala government hospital. Some farmers are also reported hurt.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the ‘Delhi Chalo' agitation to put pressure on the Centre for their demands, including a law on minimum support price for crops and loan waivers. Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, however, said in an interview to a news agency that a law guaranteeing MSP cannot be brought in a hurry without consulting all stakeholders. He urged farmer groups to have a structured discussion with the government on the issue. Munda and Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal had held last-ditch talks with farmer bodies in Chandigarh on Monday night. But the five-hour meeting remained inconclusive.

The Punjab and Haryana High court Tuesday issued notices to the Centre and the states of Haryana and Punjab, on two separate petitions linked to the march. One of the petitioners sought directions from the court to stay all "obstructive" actions by the two state governments and the Centre. A large group of farmers, including women, packed in tractor-trolleys left about 10 am Tuesday from Punjab's Fatehgarh Sahib, about 40 km from the border with BJP-ruled Haryana. An excavator was a part of one convoy, with a farmer in Amritsar saying it would be used to break barricades. Police barriers have been put up at several places in Haryana on the highway to Delhi.