Farmers Movement Archive

Bandh in Bharat brings chaos to Capital’s doors

Several of the Capital’s borders were choked on Monday morning as the police set up barricades in response to the nationwide shutdown called by farmer groups opposing three laws passed exactly a year ago, stranding thousands of rush hour commuters in hours-long jams.Transport and businesses within Delhi were unaffected, but interstate and intercity connections were hit, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, where people sat in protests at national highways and railway lines. In all, the Indian railways said roughly 50 trains were affected until the protesters vacated the tracks.The Bharat Bandh was in force from 6am to 4pm, and marked the anniversary of the Union government passing three farm laws that farmer groups oppose. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said the response was “good” from across the country, and contended it proved that the issue resonated across the country. “Some people had described the protest as an issue of farmers only in three states (Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh). But the response and support to today’s bandh across the country has proved that it is a pan-India protest,” said the national spokesperson of the BKU, which is part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha – a collective of roughly 40 farmer groups. “Some people may have faced inconvenience due to the Bharat Bandh today, which is natural, but they should forget it for just one day in the name of farmers,” Tikait said in a statement.Among the worst hit was the Delhi-Gurugram border, where traffic moved slowly for the first half of the day. Other stretches that were badly hit were around Ghazipur and Noida. In most of these places, Delhi Police put up security barricades, often randomly checking cars. “To keep a check on law and order due to the Bharat Bandh, we barricaded a section of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway at the Sirhaul toll plaza. There was no fixed time for setting up the barricades as such and we could have continued with it for the rest of the day had there not been heavy traffic congestion arising on the national highway from it. We opened more lanes for traffic movement around 10.30am and reduced the barricades,” said Ingit Pratap Singh, deputy commissioner of police (south-west), Delhi Police.Gurugram police officials said there was no gathering of protesters or any disruption on the national highway on Monday. The traffic backlog due to the security checkposts stretched to about 2km into Gurugram. But farmers gathered at one of the other Delhi borders. “Our protesters also staged sit-ins on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and the Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME), besides the Delhi-Meerut Road. Our call was largely successful. We, however, did not stop any emergency services. We regret the inconvenience to commuters but would like to say that our agitation -- which has been going on for the past 10 months -- is for them,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, farmer leader and UP-Gate site spokesperson from Samyukta Kisan Morcha.As protesters closed down DME at UP Gate, commuters were forced to use other border roads near EDM Mall, Anand Vihar, Surya Nagar, and Seemapuri, leading to heavy traffic on these narrower stretches. “Farmers staged sit-ins at many spots of the DME. Vehicular movement was also affected on Eastern Peripheral Expressway and the Dasna to Hapur section of the DME,” said Mudit Garg, project director, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).The Ghaziabad traffic police said that the sit-in by protesting farmers ended around 4:15pm.Traders in major markets of Ghaziabad said that they did not down their shutters or support the Bharat Bandh, because they had already suffered financial losses when they had to shut down operations due to pandemic-related restrictions last year.“Our traders have already been facing losses since last year due to the pandemic. So we kept our shops open and did not support the Bharat Bandh call. There were traffic disruptions, which delayed the arrival of our employees at shops, but shops were not closed,” said Pradeep Gupta, convener of Vyapari Ekta Samiti, a traders’ union in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad.At the city’s biggest market in Turab Nagar, shops were open as usual, but traders’ association members said that footfall was low.As hundreds of protesters gathered at the several highways and railway tracks, crowds at the three Delhi borders – Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri – that have become home to a constant sit-in for the last 10 months remained thin.Protesters across the three agitation spots said that several among them had camped at the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway while many others had returned to their villages to work on the fields. Tikait added that the agitation will go on. “If need be, we will continue our protest for the next 10 years. People will say that the Bharat Bandh was a flop, but it is not the case. It has been successful. As part of the protest, we only held up roads and it was not like sealing the roads. If the union agriculture minister calls us for talks, we will go,” he said. Farmer union leaders and the central government have held 11 rounds of talks, but each time the talks have ended in a stalemate. The last time the two parties held talks was on January 22.The government has defended the laws as opening the path to long due reforms, but farmer groups have argued that it will erode their earnings and expose them to coercive trade by big businesses.

Hindustan Times

28-09-2021

India