Government unlikely to allow farmers march to Delhi from Punjab-Haryana border
The proposed march to Delhi today by a group (jatha) of 101 farmers belonging to Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and some other farmer organisations of Punjab is unlikely to proceed amid tight security by the Haryana government.
An order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), restricting any unlawful assembly of five or more persons has been issued by Ambala district authority, as farmers have to cross the district.
According to the order issued by the deputy commissioner of Ambala district, any procession on foot, vehicles, or other modes has been prohibited till further orders.
As heavy deployment of security personnel has been made on the Haryana side of the border, experts view that the government is firm on not allowing the march to proceed towards Delhi. It is exactly for the same reason that the march from Punjab was not allowed to enter Haryana in February and they camped on the two border points at Shambhu and Khanauri, said experts.
Central paramilitary forces have also been deployed on the Haryana side of the border. The Ambala district administration earlier had asked the farmers to reconsider their proposed march and should first obtain a permission from Delhi Police.
KMM leader Sarwan Singh Pandher in a media briefing on December 5 termed the 101 farmers who will begin the march as someone willing to die for a cause. He also had said that they have selected the date of march to Delhi which falls on the martyr day of Guru Teg Bahadur.
Last month Pandher had told business line that the demand for legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) will help achieve the government’s decades-old target of shifting paddy farmers of Punjab to other crops, which no scheme has so far able to achieve. Pandher termed its as misinformation campaign when asked why farmers of Punjab were demanding legal guarantee when the Centre has already buying the entire paddy and wheat at MSP.
“Farmers are aware now of the impending danger as groundwater has been rapidly depleting. Wherever water is an issue in Punjab and Haryana, farmers will be readily shifting to other crops if they are assured of purchases at MSP and that can only a law can ensure,” Pandher had said. He also said that paddy growing is a compulsion for the farmers even as they do not prefer rice on their daily food.
Meanwhile, Ambala district authorities also ordered closure of all government and private schools on Friday in view of the proposed march. According to media reports, a multilayered barricading is already in place at the Shambhu border point on National Highway-44. Water cannons have also been deployed at the point.
Pandher, who claimed that the march would be ‘peaceful’, has slammed the Haryana government’s Order, prohibiting the foot march. But, Haryana police apprehends that a large number of protesters are likely to come from Punjab to move towards Delhi after reports appeared in media that some farmers groups clashed with Punjab Police in Mansa district, injuring three police officers, when they were stopped to proceed towards Bhatinda for some protest.
As KMM took the centrestage of the protest by announcing the march to Delhi, leaving the senior farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on fast-onto-death for last 10 days, at the border point, many experts said that the division in the ranks will only weaken the ‘struggle’.
Dallewal has emerged as the main leader of the grouping under Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), which was split from the main SKM before Punjab Assembly poll when some of the constituents contested election.