Farmers retreat from Delhi borders in large convoys; traffic slows down on highways

As farmers began heading home from sites at Delhi's borders where they had been stationed for over a year, traffic movement on Saturday slowed down considerably on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) flyover, connecting the national capital with Agra and Ambala highways. The farmers are heading back to their respective states in large convoys of tractors and trucks, in the same way, they arrived at the sites at the Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri on the outskirts of the national capital a year ago, to protest the Centre's three agrarian laws.

The large convoys of farmers slowed down traffic at the KMP flyover. The farmers are returning to their homes after the Samyukta Kisan Morcha's (SKM) on Thursday announced the suspension of their year-long farmers' agitation.

Farmers at the Singhu border sang bhajans before vacating the site while those at Tikri border were seen dancing to celebrate the success of their protest against the three farm laws and other related issues. Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh had laid siege to the Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri borders in November 2020 to demand the repeal of the three farm laws, which were finally withdrawn in the Winter Session of Parliament earlier this month.

Farmers have taken down their settlements and have vacated the borders around Delhi, which were their protesting sites for the last one year. BKU leader Rakesh Tikait today flagged off the first lot of farmers returning home from the Ghazipur border. This first group has headed for Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh.Tikait informed that he would leave the protesting site at the Ghazipur border on December 15.

The SKM, earlier on Thursday announced the suspension of their year-long agitation after they received a letter from the Central government, with promises of forming a committee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and withdrawing cases against them immediately. The farmers will hold a review meeting on January 15. "If the government does not fulfil its promises, we could resume our agitation," the SKM had said in its statement.On November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre will bring necessary bills in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning later this month to repeal the farm laws.

Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill on the first day of the winter session on November 29. President Ram Nath Kovind has also given his assent to the Bill that completes the process of repealing the three farm laws.