Police cut off Singhu border from Capital
With increased deployment of security personnel, four-layered barricading on the main highway connecting Delhi with Haryana, and trenches dug up on the adjacent roads, the Singhu border protest site’s connectivity with the Capital remained snapped throughout Sunday, leading to disruptions in supplies and movement of people.
As internet services remained suspended in and around the Singhu border protest venue – thousands are agitating against three contentious farm laws at the site – for the third consecutive day, farmers alleged that the step was taken to stop their voices from reaching the rest of the world.
“It (the government) wants to spread its false spin around farmers. It is also fearful of the coordinated work of the farmers’ unions across different protest sites and is trying to cut off communication means between them. This is undemocratic and illegal,” Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of 40 farmers unions that are part of the agitation against the three contentious farm laws, said in a statement on Sunday.
As per the government’s order, internet services at three borders points – Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur – were suspended from January 29 till 11pm on Sunday. The police denied allegations that the Singhu area was completely cut off, saying that movement and supplies of essential items continued through alternative routes.
“As the police have blocked all the roads and sub-lanes and not allowing us to cross over, we have not been able to use the portable toilets or the water tankers arranged by the Delhi government since yesterday (Saturday). We are now completely dependent on the toilets and water supplies of local residents,” said Dilbagh Singh, a farmer from Punjab’s Sangrur, who has been running a langar at the border point,
close to the police’s barricades.
Questioning the cordoning off of the protest sites, the SKM said it was being done to disrupt basic supplies such as food and water. “All these various attacks of the government are recognised by us as such, and we condemn the same,” read the SKM’s statement.
CHANDIGARH: The Aam Aadmi Party has demanded Punjab Police security for farmers from the state protesting at Delhi’s borders against the three agriculture marketing laws.
AAP’s national spokesperson and Punjab unit co-incharge Raghav Chadha wrote a letter to chief minister Amarinder Singh on the urgent need for police protection for protesters from Punjab, alleging threat of attack from BJP “goons”.
Trashing as “absurd” the AAP’s demand, CM Amarinder Singh said Arvind Kejriwal’s party has clearly lost sense of constitutional propriety and was ignorant of the law laid down by the highest court of the land.
He pointed out that as per a Union home ministry directive and a Supreme Court order, Punjab Police cannot stay in another state for more than 72 hours even for a protectee, which the farmers are in any case not.
Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar ridiculed the demand for deployment of Punjab Police to protect the farmers at the Delhi borders of the national capital. “Even the CBI cannot enter a state without permission. In any case, the Congress is not running an anarchist government in Punjab like Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi.
Responding to Jakhar’s remarks, Chadha also asked Amarinder to advise Congress leaders to eschew lying in public.
Citing the security cover provide to politicians, officers and other protectees of Punjab during their visits outside the state, he claimed these excuses showed the Congress’ intent to completely abdicate its duties towards farmers.