Security 2024: Farmers in Delhi face barricades, barbed wire, stones, and trenches
On Wednesday, when the farmers protest, they will be met by barricades rolled with barbed wire, cement stones, nails on highways, and trenches built along the roads leading up to Delhi.
The Delhi police has implemented strict security protocols to thwart the farmers’ intended ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest against the Central government.
The police have alerted all of their resources and are on high alert due to their concern that this demonstration might escalate into an undesirable occurrence.
The two most heavily guarded borders in the north, Tikri and Singhu, are those that are surrounded by a large number of police and paramilitary soldiers.
A multi-layered security setup has been established at the borders of Singhu, Ghazipur, and Tikri, the locations of the farmer groups’ 2020–21 sit-in against the three central agro laws that have since been abolished.
To prevent the farmers who are protesting from accessing the nation’s capital, barbed wire, concrete blocks, spike barriers, and containers have been placed on the highways.
The police have tightened security at a number of key locations inside the city as well as outside its limits. Due to limitations imposed by the farmers’ protest, the Delhi Traffic Police advised commuters to use alternative routes and avoid some congested areas of central Delhi.
“On February 21, due to special traffic arrangements, kindly avoid IP Marg in both the carriageways from IP Flyover towards A-point and vice-versa, ITO Chowk, DDU Marg, BSZ Marg, JLN Marg, Shanti Van crossing and Rajghat crossing from 9:30 am to 11:30 am,” the police said.
Traffic jams were also reported from other sections of the city as a result of the restrictions, particularly from the roadways near the borders.
Rakesh Tikait, the national spokesman for the BKU, said on Tuesday that farmers would demonstrate in front of collectorate offices in each district of Uttar Pradesh.
“We have programs on February 26 and 27 in support of the concerns presented by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) after the march on February 21. Tikait addressed a gathering of farmers in Sisauli in Muzaffarnagar and said, “Our tractors would move towards Delhi from all directions till the Ghazipur border.”
Tikait had said that the farmers would leave their tractors parked on the highway close to the border rather than drive into Delhi.
Because of his speech, farmers were expected to congregate near the Knowledge Park metro station on tractors and private cars. As a result, the Noida Traffic Police issued an advise for passengers.
“Thereafter, they will take out a march that will pass the India Expo Mart, Sharda University, LG roundabout and Moser Bear roundabout to culminate at the Collectorate in Surajpur,” the warning said.
Notably, the farmers are calling for the reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pensions for farmers and farm laborers, waivers of farm debt, no increase in electricity tariffs, the withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in 2021, and compensation for the families of farmers who lost their lives during a previous agitation in 2020–21. In addition, the farmers are demanding a legal guarantee of the Minimum Support Price.
