UP officials yet to confirm route for tractor parade
Farmers, however, said they have plans for another route decided upon by Ghaziabad officials
GHAZIABAD: Confusion prevailed over the final route of the farmers’ tractor parade as officials of the Ghaziabad police and district administration on Sunday night said they received no communication from the Delhi Police regarding the route. The farmers’ leaders, however, said they also have plans for one route with them which was also decided upon by Ghaziabad officials.
The tractor parade is scheduled for the Republic Day on Tuesday even as the Delhi Police on Sunday gave an in-principle approval to agitating farmers to carry out their tractor rallies in the national Capital from three border points -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur (Up-gate) -- on Republic Day.
Detailing the route for Tuesday, the Delhi Police said farmers at Singhu Border will cover 63 kilometre and their rally will pass through places such as Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Kanjhawala, Bawana, and KMP Expressway before returning back.
The rally from Tikri will pass through Nangloi, Najafgarh, Jharoda, and KMP Expressway and cover a distance of 62.5 kms. The farmers at Ghazipur will drive their tractors through Apsara border, Hapur road, Kundli Expressway (Eastern Peripheral Expressway) while covering a total of 68 km.
The protesting farmers on January 7 had also carried out a tractor march at the EPE which led to major disruption in traffic.
Farm leaders had held several rounds of talks with the police at Singhu border in Delhi to decide the route of their tractor rally.
Since a major part of the tractor parade will be led through the jurisdiction of Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad, it was expected that the Ghaziabad officials would release the route and diversion plans on Sunday.
“We are not in knowledge of the route issued by the Delhi Police as they did not convey it to us till late Sunday. Once we receive any official communicaand tion from them, we will release the route plan of the tractor rally in Ghaziabad,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, DM.
Kalanidhi Naithani, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad, also said that there was “no official confirmation of route from the Delhi Police.” On the other hand, members of the farmers’ committee at the UP Gate protest site said they have a plan in which it is proposed that the parade will move from UP Gate/ghazipur to Anand Vihar further to Apsara Border, from where the rally will proceed to Mohan Nagar, Meerut tri-crossing before proceeding to Duhai interchange of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.
“At EPE, the rally will move towards the Dasna interchange of EPE and thereafter travel back to UP Gate. The Ghaziabad officials were also part of the meeting when the route was chalked out. We have also proposed that from UP Gate/ghazipur, we wish to move to Akshardham and then take a U-turn to return to Anand Vihar from where the original route will be followed,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a farmer leader from Uttarakhand and member of the UP Gate farmers’ committee.
The farmers’ leaders on Sunday afternoon also went to Delhi to have a look at the route.
Rakesh Tikait, another farmer leader and national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) said that the tractor parade will start once the Republic Day parade at Rajpath ends. “We agreed to it as we have no competition with our soldiers and armed forces. We can happily take out our parade once they complete their parade at Rajpath. The Delhi Police also told us that both the parades cannot go on simultaneously. So, we will start our tractor parade after the Republic Day parade ends. Our parade will also march tableaus showing poor farmers. After ending our tractor parade, we have no plans to stay in Delhi and will return to our protest site,” he said.
“There were allegations that farmers were “anti-nationals”. So, we are holding our parade to give a reply to all such allegations. We had come here thinking that we will have to stay here till April/may. But now we think that we will have to stay here till October/november. Farmers and tractors have increased in numbers in the past couple of days,” he added.
The farmers at UP Gate had been on protest since November 28, 2020 and have also been occupying the Ghaziabad-delhi carriageway of the Delhi-meerut Expressway since December 3.
We are not in knowledge of the route issued by the Delhi Police as they did not convey it to us till late Sunday. Once we receive it, we will release the route plan for the rally in Ghaziabad. AJAY SHANKAR PANDEY, district magistrate, Ghaziabad