Farmers Movement Archive

Will persuade farmers to remove blockades: Haryana govt to Supreme Court

Haryana government will continue to persuade protesting farmers to remove blockages on state and national highways, although the farmers did not meet the panel constituted to resolve the issue of agitation on public spaces, the state has told the Supreme Court.in an affidavit submitted to a bench led by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, the state highlighted that the general public continued to face “great hardship” due to the farmers’ prolonged agitation, and all efforts are being made to persuade them to keep the roads clear. “Sincere efforts are being made to remove the blockades from interstate roads and national highways and to resume free flow of traffic on these roads for the convenience of general public by way of persuading the farmers and farmers’ organisations to cooperate,” the affidavit stated. Thousands of farmers are camping on the borders of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and on highways along these states since November last year, protesting three controversial laws that aim to liberalise the farm economy. Traffic at many points have been diverted, adding to commuting times, besides affecting commercial activities along these routes. In Haryana, the blockades are chiefly along National Highway 44 in the Ambala-New Delhi stretch, especially near the Singhu border with Delhi in Sonipat district. The court is considering a woman’s complaint that it is taking her almost two hours, instead of 20 minutes, to travel from Noida to Delhi due to frequent blockades and protests. Petitioner Monicca Agarwaal, who works in an information technology firm, has stated in her petition that her commute between Delhi and Noida has become a “nightmare”. The petitioner alleged that directions by the apex court in several cases to keep roads clear, including the Shaheen Bagh protest in 2019-20, are not been followed. Her plea said she is a single mother with medical issues, and she was facing a harrowing time because the authorities have failed to enforce the court’s orders. During the last hearing on August 23, the Supreme Court had said it is the responsibility of the Centre and the states to ensure agitations do not block movement on public roads. It insisted that the Centre and the states should coordinate with each other to ensure if the protests continue, traffic should not be stopped in any manner. In its affidavit, the Haryana government said that after the direction of the top court, a meeting was convened on September 10 through video conferencing under the chairmanship of the Union home secretary. The meeting was attended by the chief secretaries and the home secretaries of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the national capital territory (NCT) of Delhi and the states’ senior police officials. It was decided in the meeting to make efforts to clear the interstate and national highways on both sides of the Delhi-Haryana border, the state government said. The Haryana government also apprised the court of the constitution of a state-level committee after a meeting chaired by Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on September 15. The committee, under the chairmanship of the additional chief secretary of the Haryana government, was set up to resolve the issue of blockades of interstate roads and national highways by holding discussions with the farmers and farmers’ organisations so as to avoid any inconvenience to the general public. The state submitted before the court that this committee scheduled a meeting with farmer groups on September 19 at Murthal in Haryana in the presence of divisional commissioner (Rohtak division), Inspector General of police (Rohtak range), deputy commissioner and superintendents of police of Sonipat and Jhajjar districts. “Unfortunately, the farmers and farmers organizations did not come forward for discussion with the state level committee in spite of being invited,” the state government said, adding that representatives from various industrial establishments of the surrounding areas, however, attended the meeting and described the difficulties faced by them. The affidavit maintained that “the state level committee would continue to persuade farmers and farmers’ organisations to hold discussions to resolve the issue” while local administrations would also hold regular deliberations with them in attempts to convince them to remove the blockades. The Supreme Court will hear the matter again on Monday. During the hearing of this petition in April, the court had emphasised that protesters cannot block roads and continually inconvenience the public, while regretting that despite several judicial pronouncements on keeping public roads free, the situation has not improved. The Union government and Delhi Police took a stand that the authorities were trying their best to remove blockades and make the commute in Delhi-NCR smooth. In its affidavit, the Uttar Pradesh government said efforts were underway to make the farmers understand the “grossly illegal act of blocking roads” but most of the protesters are aged farmers.

Hindustan Times

26-09-2021

India