Farmers Movement Archive

Food supplies for protesting farmers in Delhi border cut off in UP's Pilibhit

Pilibhit: Calling it an "unlawful activity", police and local administration in UP's Pilibhit stopped two tractor-trolleys full of food supplies and other relief materials from leaving for the Delhi-UP border on Saturday night. The food materials, blankets and quilts were all for the protesting farmers.Superintendent of police Jai Prakash Yadav called it "unlawful activity" and said that the “administration cannot allow it".The farmers were violating the restriction imposed in the area against the gathering of five or more persons under section 144 of CrPC, he added. Countering the claims, farmers asked, "How can sending food supplies be unlawful?"Pilibhit sadar circle SDM Avinash Chandra Maurya refused to comment on whether it was "unlawful activity" and the decision to stop the farmers' supplies was a "local one" or had come from the state government.Reacting angrily, the president of UP-Uttarakhand Sikh Organisation, Jasveer Singh Virk, said, “The farmers' protest is a peaceful battle against the three farm laws. This is our legitimate right. The act of stopping the relief materials for farmers in the cold winter is highly condemnable."Virk added that he will talk to top officials in the UP government for uninterrupted food supplies for the protesting farmers.Farmers - Gurpreet Singh, Gagan Deep Singh, Manpreet Singh and Manjinder Singh - from Seramau North village, said they were moving from Puranpur tehsil area when the cops stopped them from travelling any further.The Sikh community forms a large population in Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri and Shahjahanpur. With over 3.5 lakh Sikhs, mainly into farming, this place is also called a "mini-Punjab".

The Times of India

2020-12-14

Bareilly