Punjab Haryana borders sealed as farmers prepare to breach the area
Following the failure of negotiations with the government on guaranteed crop prices, the protesting farmers are scheduled to pick up their “Delhi Chalo” march again on Wednesday. Farmers wearing gas masks and armored clothing are preparing to face security personnel and scale the barricades in the wake of last week’s unsuccessful effort to cross the Punjab Haryana border due to heightened police presence.
Punjab and Haryana borders locked!
In an effort to prevent a recurrence of the farmer demonstrations of 2021, authorities have blocked roads leading to the nation’s capital with iron spikes, barbed wire, cement blocks, and metal containers.
Excavators and JCB vehicles with modified cabins to withstand possible police operations, including shotgun pellets and rubber bullets, are among the tools that the demonstrators have brought. To lessen the effect of tear gas shells, many farmers have arranged gas masks and made crude anti-riot shields. Thousands of sandbags have also been delivered by them, with the intention of creating improvised routes across regions that are not guarded.
Bulldozers confiscated!
Meanwhile, the Haryana Police have asked their Punjabi colleagues to confiscate bulldozers and other earthmoving machinery that they suspect are headed towards the interstate border. There is concern that protestors may use these devices to break through the barriers, endangering deployed military personnel and creating a serious security risk.
“It is reliably learnt that heavy earthmoving equipment, including proclain (digger), JCB etc., that have been further modified/armour-plated have been acquired by protesting farmers and have been deployed at the border locations where the protesters are camping right now,” the letter written by the Haryana DGP stated.
“These machines are meant to be used by the protesters to damage the barricades thereby posing serious danger to the police and paramilitary forces deployed on duty and are likely to compromise the security scenario in Haryana,” it said.
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Movement of JCBs and other heavy vehicles prohibited
Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav directed that all range ADGPs, IGPs, DIGs, police commissioners and SSPs take immediate steps to stop the movement of “JCBs, proclaines (diggers), tippers (heavy trucks), hydras and other heavy earthmoving equipment towards the Haryana-Punjab border at Khanauri and Shambhu by laying ‘nakas’, conducting patrolling and (taking) other required steps”.
The demand for a law that would guarantee minimum prices for their produce is at the core of the farmers’ protest. In addition, the farmers are pressuring the government to honor pledges made during the previous 2021 protests to double their income, forgive loans, and drop lawsuits against them.
Since security authorities broke up their march on February 13, they have been sleeping at the Shambhu and Khanauri points on the border between Punjab and Haryana.
