Farmers’ protest turns violent on Delhi border
new delhi — a massive protest march by farmers from uttar pradesh to delhi with a charter of 15 demands including loan waiver and fair prices for crops turned violent at the border on tuesday, with police using water cannons and tear gas to disperse them.
led by the bharatiya kisan union (bku), thousands of farmers on their way to kisan ghat in the national capital were stopped at the delhi border by the police. the farmers then tried to forcibly break barricades and defy prohibitory orders.
prohibitory orders banning the assembly of five or more persons have been clamped in several areas near the delhi-uttar pradesh border and will continue till october 8.
DEFEnDInG tHE CrACkDown, wHICH lEFt mAny FArmErs InJurED, DEputy CommIssIonEr oF PolICE
pankaj kumar singh said permission to hold the march had been denied and the farmers’ entry to delhi was illegal.
the farmers’ demands include complete loan waiver, revoking ban on 10-year old tractors in the national capital region, reduction in electricity tariff, implementation of the recommendations of the m.s. swaminathan commission on remunerative prices and payment of sugarcane arrears among others.
the protesters started their 10day march from haridwar in uttarakhand led by the bku and on tuesday they reached the uttar pradesh-delhi border. there was heavy deployment of security forces at the border.
cash-strapped sugar firms owe cane growers about rs135 billion in the current season. saddled with huge piles of sugar and hit by a fall in prices, mills have said they are unable to pay farmers on time. the police crackdown was denounced by opposition parties. the government has allowed police to “brutally beat up” the farmers, said the opposition congress party. —