Farmers’

The Delhi Police on Tuesday said they have made elaborate security arrangements at the Capital’s railway stations and interstate bus terminals (ISBTs) in view of the “Delhi Chalo” march call given by different farmer outfits in Punjab.
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The development comes after the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) — the two umbrella bodies that are spearheading the farmers’ agitation — on March 3 gave a call to farmers across the country to amass in the national capital on Wednesday, and to reach the city by trains and buses.
On Tuesday, a senior police officer aware of the security arrangement in Delhi said that teams have been deployed at railway stations and ISBTs to detain protestors that reach the city.
“CrPC section 144 is also imposed in Delhi, prohibiting the assembly of four or more people in an area… Additional companies of police forces have been deployed at all possible places where the protestors may gather. We’ll immediately detain them there,” the officer said, on condition of anonymity.
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The officer further added that routine traffic in the city is unlikely to be affected. “There will be no barricading on city roads. However, we’ll keep a real-time watch on vehicular movement at different roads,” he said.
Meanwhile, deputy commissioner of police (railways) KPS Malhotra said that to avert any mishap, the security in and around the railway stations has been tightened. “We are keeping a constant watch on the movement of passengers there,” he said.
The farmers are pressing the Centre on several demands, including minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, a waiver of debt on farmers, and jobs for the families of farmers who were killed during the year-long farmers’ agitation at the Capital’s borders between November 2020 and December 2021, as well as the withdrawal of criminal cases registered against the protesters.
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However, unlike the previous agitation in 2020-21, the protesters’ convoys of tractor-trolleys have been met with concrete blocks, barbed wires, and tear gas right at the Punjab-Haryana border, leading to the farmer leaders to give a call for demonstrators to travel to Delhi on buses and trains.
The farmer groups have also given the call for a countrywide “rail roko” on March 10, Sunday.