Farmers Movement Archive

Over 2,500 farmers from UP, Uttarakhand break through barricades to reach Delhi

PILIBHIT: In a fresh bid to reach the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, more than 2,500 farmers from Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh went past police barricades near the Uttarakhand-Rampur border on Friday. They were later joined by around 600 farmers from Tikunia, Nighasan, Palia and Bhira in Kheri district who were also on their way to the Delhi border via Pilibhit on Thursday. They reached NH24 near Gajraula in Amroha district on Friday. The joint group of farmers from Uttarakhand-UP was led by Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. The farmers’ march to Delhi coincided with UP cabinet minister Swami Prasad Maurya highlighting the benefits of the three new farm laws at a local farmers' meet in Pilibhit. There was heavy deployment of police on NH-24 but, unlike the previous few days, there were no attempts made to stop the farmers. On Tuesday, after UP Police stopped movement of around 200 farmers from Pilibhit, who were headed to the Delhi border with tractors full of essential supplies for the protesters, there were skirmishes leading to Moradabad SSP receiving injuries. This was the third occasion when the administration had deployed heavy police force to foil the attempt of farmers to carry essential supplies to the Delhi border for the protesting farmers. Prior to this, three tractor trolleys had been stopped by the administration at midnight on December 19 and another two in the late hours on December 12. However, Bareilly deputy inspector general of police Rajesh Kumar Pandey said that the police were “only preventing the mischievous elements from moving to the Delhi border which had mixed with the gathering of farmers”. “Otherwise, farmers are free to carry out their journey to Delhi border even along with the essential services on their tractors and trolleys,” he added. “Local police had blocked the road leading to NH 24 by placing the mud-laden dumpers and huge stones. The spot had been cordoned off by the heavy police force of Rampur and Udham Singh Nagar districts,” said Sirsa. “We had humbly urged police personnel to allow farmers a passage but after they did not respond for half an hour, we broke through the blockage by removing police barricades,” Sirsa added. The farmers reached the Ghazipur border on Friday evening.

The Times of India

2020-12-26

Bareilly