Delhi Chalo march: Farmer leaders to hold meeting to discuss situation at Punjab-Haryana borders

Protesting farmers disperse after a tear gas firing during their `Delhi Chalo` march near the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu Border. Pic/PTI

Leaders from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) will hold a meeting in Chandigarh on Thursday to discuss the situation at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana. Thousands of protesting farmers have camped on the said borders since February 13, after they were stopped from entering the national capital under the 'Delhi Chalo' march announced by various farmer organisations.

Farmer leaders put the march on hold for two days on Wednesday after a protester was killed and about 12 police personnel were injured in clashes at Khanauri. The police fired tear-gas shells at the two border points multiple times to disperse the protesting farmers when they tried to move towards the barricades, which are installed to prevent the protestors entry in Delhi.

Several SKM leaders from the states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have assembled for the meeting. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha lead the historic farmers protest in the country in 2020-21- the agitation to repeal three farm laws.

As per PTI report, Bharti Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal said the SKM will discuss what happened at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points on Wednesday. Besides, the farmers' body will also take a decision on how to support the ongoing agitation, Lakhowal added.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) are spearheading the "Delhi Chalo" march to press the BJP-led Centre to accept their demands, including a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops and farm loan waiver.

However, the SKM is not a part of the "Delhi Chalo" march.

The farmers are camping at Khanauri and Shambhu with their tractor-trolleys and trucks and have tried multiple times to enter the national capital under their 'Delhi Chalo' march, however the intense barricading by security forces have prevented them. Section 144 was also implemented in Delhi and parts of Haryana in the view of farmers protest and to control law and order situation.

Several meeting between farmer leaders and the government have been inconclusive.

The Delhi Chalo march is to press the farmers demands from the Centre. The farmers have 12 demands including implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during the agitation against the three farm laws in 2020-21 etc.

(With PTI inputs)