Groups of agitating farmers from Punjab reach near Delhi borders

Despite heavy security deployment, groups of farmers from Punjab managed to reach near two Delhi borders on Friday morning after breaking police barricades in Haryana as part of their protest march against the Centre's farm laws.

The Delhi Police had on Thursday enhanced deployment of security personnel, stationed sand-laden trucks and water cannons and used barbed wire for fencing at the Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border) to prevent the protesters from entering the city. Police were also deployed on Delhi's border with Faridabad and Gurgaon.

However, two groups of farmers reached near the Singhu and Tikri borders as Delhi Police fired tear gas shells at them to prevent them from entering the city.

"We will enter Delhi. We will get these anti-farmer laws repealed. We were welcomed at the national capital by tear gas shells lobbed by Delhi police," said a farmer from Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab who was among those who managed to reach near the Singhu border.

According to the group, they had taken night halts at various points and broke the police barriers in Panipat, Haryana, to reach near the Delhi border.

While a large group of farmers was camping in and around Panipat, about 100 km from Delhi, during the night, a group reached the Sonipat-Delhi border using various routes.

Another group of Haryana farmers led by State Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Gurnam Singh was also headed towards Delhi after a night halt at Panipat.

One more group of farmers had reached near Delhi's Tikri border after entering Haryana from Rohtak district.

A farmer leader leading a group of protesters at Haryana's border with Punjab in Dabwali said they will break police barriers later in the day to march ahead.

On Thursday, farmers from Punjab faced water cannons and broke police barriers at the state's border with Haryana as they pushed towards the national capital on their march against the Centre's farm laws.

By late evening, a large group of them had reached the road toll plaza at Panipat, about 100 km from Delhi and about 70 km from the border point with the national capital.

At the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border, police and Punjab farmers in their tractor-trolleys were locked in a confrontation for a couple of hours in the morning on Thursday.

The Haryana Police had placed cement and steel barricades and parked trucks on the road to stop the farmers' tractor-trolleys, some of them laden with food for the planned two-day protest, which many felt could extend further.

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were among the opposition leaders who slammed the Haryana Police action at Shambhu.

Ahead of the protest, Haryana had announced the sealing of its borders with Punjab to prevent farmers from entering the state on their way to Delhi.

The Delhi Police had also made clear that they had denied permission to the farmer organisations planning to protest in the capital on November 26 and 27.

The farmers are demanding the repeal of the new laws which deregulate the sale of agriculture produce.

They say the laws will lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system. 

(Image: PTI/Representative)