New Delhi, December 13:
The farmers protesting against the Centre’s farm laws have threatened to block the Jaipur-Delhi highway on Sunday, intensifying their stir. Thousands of farmers have been protesting at various border points of Delhi for over two weeks, demanding repeal of the new farm laws.
The farmers from Rajasthan and Haryana are likely to march towards the national capital as part of their protest, on National Highway 48 (Delhi-Jaipur road), which was earlier known as NH-8.
“Farmer groups from Rajasthan are coming towards Haryana. We will join them and gather at Shahjahanpur in Alwar near the Haryana-Rajasthan border by Saturday night and proceed towards Delhi on Sunday,” said Azad Khan, Haryana vice-president, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).
He added that the farmers would strive to march peacefully. Their march towards Delhi is expected to begin at 11 am.
The protesters said that major highways linking the national capital will be blocked from Sunday and they will sit on a hunger strike on December 14, when they have called for a nationwide protest
Adequate security arrangements have made by the Delhi Police, including multi-layered barricades and deployment of extra personnel. The Delhi Traffic Police has also deployed its personnel across important border points to ensure commuters do not face difficulties and is also constantly updating people about open and closed routes on its Twitter handle.
The police in Gurugram, where the Delhi-Jaipur highway passes from, too have prepared route diversion plans. THe important points have been identified on National Highway 48, like Sirhaul toll plaza, Iffcco Chowk, Bilaspur Chowk, and the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway.
Overall, more than 2,000 police officials have been deployed across different parts of the city for managing law and order as well as traffic at key points.
The police said they were prepared to take measures for any untoward incident and were standing along the highway with barricades, batons and shields, to take immediate action.
Meanwhile, Union minister Som Prakash, who is among the government representatives negotiating with the farmers protesting against three new farm laws, on Saturday said efforts are being made to call the next round of meeting with the leaders of the agitation soon to end the stalemate.
Asserting that the government is ready for discussions anytime, Prakash, the minister of state for commerce and industries and an MP from Punjab, said the Centre is “concerned” about the protesting farmers and urged them to come to the discussion table.
The farmer leaders, however, said they are ready to hold talks with the government, but will first discuss repealing the three new farm laws.
At least five rounds of formal talks have taken place between the Centre and representatives of farmers, but the deadlock has continued with the unions sticking to their main demand for the repeal of the three contentious laws.
