Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers picket 165 toll plazas nationwide

Farmers’ groups picketed toll plazas at 165 locations across the country, allowing toll-free movement of vehicles on major national highways on Saturday, as part of the ongoing protests demanding the repeal of the three contentious farm laws. By evening, a small group of farmers from Rajasthan had moved to block the Delhi-Jaipur highway at Rewari in Haryana, while thousands more gathered on the Rajasthan side of the border to begin a march to Delhi on Sunday morning. This is the 17th day of protest on the highways surrounding the national capital, with tens of thousands of farmers, under the joint banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, already blocking four major crossing points on Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Since the talks broke down earlier this week, with farmers rejecting the Centre’s proposal to amend some provisions in the laws, the Morcha has vowed to step up the agitation. “We will go for talks if the government calls us, but the focus is on these three laws. Until these laws are repealed, we will not begin discussing other issues,” said Kanwalpreet Singh Pannu, president of the Kisan Sangharsh committee, at a press conference at the Singhu border point. Hunger strike He added that farm union leaders would also sit on a day-long hunger strike on Monday. Across States, protests were held at about 165 out of the 450 toll booths, according to estimates provided by the All India Kisan Sabha. In Punjab, all toll plazas have been free since October after the new laws were passed. In Haryana, farmers staged sit-ins, shouting anti-BJP slogans, at toll plazas in 20 locations. They also picketed petrol pumps and malls run by the Reliance group, which farmers see as an example of large corporates set to benefit from these laws. “Farmers staged dharna at almost all the toll plazas in Haryana. Group of farmers gathered at toll-plazas since morning on the Ambala-Hisar highway. Besides, we were picketing at toll plazas in Hisar district, situated on the roads leading to Delhi, Rajgarh, Sirsa and Chandigarh,” Rattan Mann, president of the Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union (Tikait), told The Hindu .

The Hindu

2020-12-13

NEW DELHI