Farmers hold ‘Chakka Jam’ against agri laws
NEW DELHI: Farmers across states peacefully carried out the three-hour-long “chakka jam” protest, blocking key highways on Saturday, while authorities stepped up vigil in and around the national capital despite the demonstrators’ assurance that the agitation will not be held in Delhi.
Farmers across states blocked roads on Saturday with makeshift tents, tractors, trucks and boulders to pressure the government to roll back the three contentious agricultural laws that have triggered months-long protests.
Roads and highways were blocked in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
Raising slogans against the Centre, many farmers parked their tractor-trailers or squatted in the middle of roads in Punjab and Haryana, blocking several highways, including the Chandidination garh-Zirakpur, Amritsar-Pathankot, Tarn Taran-Kapurthala, Ferozepur-Fazilka, Muktsar-Kotkapura, Bathinda-Chandigarh, Ludhiana-Jalandhar, PanchkulaPinjore and Ambala – Chandigarh highway. The Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway or the western peripheral expressway on the outskirts of Delhi was also blocked, causing a traffic jam on the highway.
Scores of other protesters were briefly detained by police as they stalled traffic on roads in parts of Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Saturday’s three-hour blockade, started around noon across the country, except in New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The protests were largely held on national and state highways but it was business as usual in most cities.
Avik Saha, a secretary of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordemonstrations Committee, an umbrella organisation of farmer groups, said about 10,000 places across India were blocked in the three hours.
“Today’s chakka jam clearly showed the government that this is an all-India protest,” Saha said in a video address on live streaming platform Periscope.
On a highway near the Capital, some farmers played as songs played on a loudspeaker.
Farmers squatted on the road in Odisha and Karnataka with flags and banners protesting against the laws. Some carried placards urging the government not to treat them as enemies.
“Farmers across the country are united against this and we will continue to stand together until the black laws are repealed,” Dilbag Singh, a 65-year-old farmer protesting in Kundli near the Delhi border.
In Delhi, thousands of security personnel had been and 10 Metro stations – including Khan Market, Mandi House, Nehru Place and Vishwavidyalaya – had been shut until evening as pre
cautionary measures.
Delhi Police also used drone cameras for aerial surveillance and authorities were monitoring social media websites to take down possible rumour mongering.
As the farmers held a threehour-long protest, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) again snapped internet services at Delhi’s borders – where the farmers have been camping for over two months -- for 24 hours.
The suspension, which will end at 11:59pm on Saturday, was been announced in the interest of “maintaining public safety and averting public emergency”, the order issued on February 5 said.
Protest sites Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri borders and surrounding areas come under the purview of this suspension order. MHA ordered the first suspension of internet connection after the January 26 violence.