Ahead of Farmers' 'Delhi Chalo' March, Haryana Police Asks Them Not to Join Protest

The police here have asked farmers not to participate without permission in a planned march to Delhi next week and warned them of strict action if they damage public property.

The warning has been issued in notices to farmer organisation gearing up to take part in ‘Delhi Chalo’ agitation on February 13 to press for demands, including a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) and implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations.

Till now, no farmer organisation has sought any permission for the protest, Ambala SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said on Thursday. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha had announced that farmers would march to Delhi on February 13 to press the Centre for accepting its demands.

More than 200 farmers’ unions from across the country would participate in the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march. If any person is found participating in the protest without permission, legal action will be taken against them, Randhawa further stated. Randhawa said if agitators damage public property, strict action will be taken against them under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

Loss to government property will also be compensated by attaching the property and seizing bank accounts of the protesters, he said. Police have asked farmers not to give their vehicles on rent or to any farmer otherwise these will be impounded and registration will be cancelled.

Police have already stocked up concrete blocks, barbed wire, sandbags, barricades and other items at the Shambhu border in Ambala to stop protesters from marching towards Delhi. Farmers have planned to head to Delhi from the Ambala-Shambhu border, Khanauri-Jind and the Dabwali border.

Top officials of the Ambala Police took stock of the arrangements made to stop farmers at the Shambhu toll plaza near the Haryana-Punjab border. Besides a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP), the farmers are also demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

In 2020, a large number of farmers from Punjab and nearby areas of Ambala gathered at the Shambhu border and broke police barriers to march towards Delhi. Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, held a year-long protest on Delhi’s border points — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — against the three now-repealed farm laws.