Delhi cops give nod to farmers’ tractor parade

NEW DELHI: The police on Saturday gave an ‘in principle’ nod to farmers protesting at Delhi’s borders to carry out their proposed “tractor march” on Republic Day, covering a distance of around 100km within the national capital.

Delhi Police did not officially share details of conditions that were laid down for granting permission for the rally.

A police officer, privy to the meeting between police and farmers, said, “The approval was given in principle for now. The farmers will have to give a signed undertaking that they will not enter the New Delhi and central Delhi areas on Republic Day. The proposed routes will be in the vicinity of places where farmers are already protesting, but within the national capital. They will also have to give an undertaking that the rally will not disrupt Republic Day arrangements. We will speak to them again tomorrow.”

Police teams will escort the tractors on the day of the rally to maintain law and order.

In the undertaking, the farmers will have to share details of the number of tractors, timing of their rally, number of protesters and their day’s plan, among other details. Police will then verify the undertaking and issue a “written permission.”

According to farmer leaders, police have allowed them to enter the national capital from five different routes that will be decided by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha — a group of several farmer organisations protesting against the three new farm laws across the country— by Sunday.

Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj Abhiyan said farmers will enter Delhi from all the existing protesting sites — Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur, Shahjahanpur, and Palwal.

“The farmers will enter the national capital on January 26 and take out a parade on Republic Day for the first time. It will be historic… There won’t be any fixed duration for the parade since all tractors coming from different parts of the country will participate in it,” he said.