The situation turned tense at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points this morning after Haryana Police fired tear gas shells to disperse protesting farmers who attempted to displace barricades. However, General Secretary of Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sarwan Singh Pandher, announced in the evening that the march was suspended for the next two days, and the future course of action would be decided on Friday, February 23.
Farmers protesting at the Haryana border claimed that Shubhkaran Singh, a 22-year-old protestor from Bathinda, was killed during a clash with police. However, the police have denied the claim, saying that it was a rumour.
Reacting to the incident, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann assured action and said the Punjab government would give financial aid to the protestor’s family. He also said that an FIR will be filed after the post-mortem.
The security forces resorted to tear gas shells with reports of at least three rounds of tear gas shelling until Wednesday evening. Security forces at the Punjab-Haryana border resisted protestors as farmers during the ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest march, following a failure of talks with the Centre over minimum support price (MSP) guarantees.
Union Minister Arjun Munda, who was a part of the previous rounds of talks with the farmers, offered to hold another round of negotiations with them.
“After the fourth round, the government is ready to discuss all the issues like MSP demand, crop diversification, stubble (burning) issue, and (registration of) FIR (during 2020-21 protest) in the fifth round. I again invite the farmer leaders for discussion. We must maintain peace,” Munda wrote on X in Hindi.
According to sources, farmer leaders have demanded the Centre to officially convey to them that they are ready to discuss how to give a legal guarantee of MSP for crops.
The farmers also want the Centre to give them the time and date for the talks and accordingly, they will take a call, sources said.
Here are the latest developments in the farmers’ protest:
- Farmers gathered at the Khanauri border connecting Punjab and Haryana this morning, 1,200 tractor trolleys, 300 cars, and 10 mini-buses, as part of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march. However, it was announced in the evening that the march had been suspended for the next two days.
- Shubhkaran Singh, a 22-year-old protesting farmer from Bathinda, was allegedly killed during police clash at the Khanauri border. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann assured action in the case and said an FIR would be filed after the body’s post-mortem. He also said that the protestor’s family would be given financial aid by the Punjab government.
- Face shields, masks, toothpaste as face repellant, wet jute bags to extinguish smoke canisters and kites to ward off drone surveillance, are some of the peculiar methods used by farmers.
- Officials said areas around Delhi’s three border points might witness traffic congestion on Wednesday due to road closures. Tikri and Singhu — two points on the Delhi-Haryana border — are sealed with heavy deployment of police personnel and multiple layers of concrete barricades and iron nails. If required, the Ghazipur border might also be shut on Wednesday, an official said.
- Amid tensions at the Haryana-Punjab border over the ongoing farmers’ agitation, the Haryana government has extended the suspension of internet services till February 23.
Article source: indiatoday.in
