Farmers Movement Archive

Traffic disrupted as group of farmers headed to central Delhi is stopped at Mukarba Chowk

Traffic movement was disrupted for nearly an hour on one side of the road (towards Delhi) between Singhu border and Mukarba Chowk in outer Delhi on Thursday afternoon as the police placed barricades and stationed vehicles to stop around 70 farmers, including Nihangs (armed Sikh warriors), from moving towards central Delhi in their private vehicles.On being stopped, protesters told the police that they were headed to Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in New Delhi to pay tributes before leaving for their respective home towns. Since no prior permission was taken from the police for the journey en masse, the police refused to allow them passage, even for the purpose of visiting the gurdwara.A few senior police officers, including deputy commissioner of police (outer-north) Brijendra Yadav, arrived at the spot and pacified the agitated farmers and Nihangs. When farmers insisted that they only wanted to visit the gurdwara and not hold any protest, senior officers put forward certain conditions that included travelling on buses arranged by the police and returning to the protest venue after paying tributes at the gurdwara, police officers present at the spot said.“They accepted our conditions, parked their vehicles on the roadside and boarded two buses arranged by us. Escorted by police, the buses reached Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, where farmers paid tributes and returned to the Singhu border protest venue on the same buses,” said DCP Yadav.Police said the group of 70, including Nihangs, women and children, managed to enter Delhi around 2pm, using alternative routes passing through Singhu village. Since they were in private vehicles and crossed the border in a scattered manner, the police personnel present at the border could not spot them. But as vehicles grouped on the main highway, a few personnel spotted Nihangs in a few vehicles and alerted senior officers.At Mukarba Chowk, about 10 kilometres from Singhu border, police placed multiple layers of barricades on the carriageway towards Delhi and stopped all vehicles. Due to the barricading, movement of vehicles was disrupted and as tailbacks lengthened, diversions were made through alternative routes. After nearly an hour, the barricades were removed and traffic restored, the police said.The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions spearheading the protest against the now repealed farm laws, are continuing with their protest at Delhi’s borders demanding a legal guarantee for MSP (minimum support price) for crops and withdrawal of cases against farmers, among others. On Monday, Parliament passed the bill for repealing the three contentious farm law, 10 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the laws will be taken back in the face of sustained protests, lasting for almost a year. President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday gave his assent to the Farm Laws Repeal Act 2021, effectively repealing the laws.When asked about Thursday’s incident, SKM leader Sarvan Singh Pandher said, “The SKM is unaware of any such movement to Delhi as they had not informed us about it. It seems that some farmers planned to visit the gurdwara to pay tributes for our successful agitation that forced the government to repeal the three farm laws.”

Hindustan Times

03-12-2021

Delhi