Highways choked as protesting farmers return
Karnal administration directs gurdwara committees to end their langar services along the NH-44 after reports of miscreants pelting farmers with stones
KARNAL/ROHTAK/AMBALA : As hundreds of farmers from Haryana and Punjab, who had gone to Tikri and Singhu borders to take part in the farmers’ tractor parade, started returning on Wednesday, long queues of tractor-trolleys, cars and motorcycles could be seen on the DelhiAmbala and Rohtak-Delhi highways.
The sudden inflow of tractors slowed down one-sided traffic towards Punjab, primarily near langar sites near the Shambhu border, where most farmers stopped.
Meanwhile, the Karnal administration directed the gurdwara committees to end their langar services along the NH-44. After Karnal deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav and SP Ganga Ram Punia visited the site, members of the different gurdwaras agreed to end their services on the Bastara toll plaza. The deputy commissioner said that the decision was taken following reports that some miscreants allegedly pelted farmers with stones near Gharaunda town.
Miscreants joined the parade: Returnees
One of the returnees, Dilbag Singh, who had returned from Canada to protest on Singhu border, said he was upset with the clashes that took place in Delhi on Republic Day.
“We had warned the government that it was possible that miscreants would enter our parade and resort to hooliganism and violence to defame the protesters. No flag is greater than the Tricolour and we condemn those who hoisted the Nishan Sahib flag on the Red fort. We will continue our fight,”
he said.
Jitender Singh, a farmer from Jind, alleged that some miscreants had not followed the top farm leaders’ guidelines as they were planted by the government. “There is no place for violence and hooliganism in this protest. People tried to weaken our protest and defame us but we will continue to protest peacefully. It is shameful that the government had to plant such people to weaken the farmers’ voice.”
On the Delhi violence, Gulab Singh, Ambala vice-president of BKU (Charuni) blamed Deep Sidhu and BJP for orchestrating the whole act.
“From the starting of the tractor parade, the leaders had appealed to the participants to follow the route given by the police. But what happened at the Red Fort was sponsored by the BJP and Deep Sidhu acted on their orders. Even the police wanted that there should be violence,” he alleged.
Bhartiya Kisan Union youth state president Ravi Azad said the farmers who had come to take part in the farmers’ parade two days ago were returning to look after their fields.
“The number of farmers protesting
on the Delhi’s borders has not reduced. After the Republic Day clashes, we have became all the more cautious about the entry of miscreants,” he said.
Lala Ram Yadav, sarpanch of Masani village, Rewari, said they had conducted a meeting of 15 villages and asked the farmers to clear national highway 8 as they had disrespected the country by hoisting the Nishan Sahib flag.
“Most of the protesters are from Punjab and Rajasthan and local farmers are engaging in agriculture related activities in their fields. We have asked them to clear the highway and lift their dharna within 24 hours,” he said.
Massive inflow at Shambu border too
Shambu, the entry point to Punjab from Haryana, also saw massive inflow of farmers. Most of them blamed the fringe elements for violence in Delhi. Punjab-based farm organisations arranged a langar on the GT Road for the arriving farmers. Langar is operational at Shambu, Rajpura and Khanna.