A group of farmers on Thursday broke through barricades set up by Rewari Police at the Rajasthan-Haryana border and are moving towards Delhi. The Haryana Police attempted to stop them using water cannons and tear gas.
According to police, “around 20 to 25 tractors” managed to break through the barricades around 2.30 pm.
“Around 20 to 25 tractors managed to break through the barricades this afternoon and enter Rewari. They are moving towards Delhi. We will make another attempt to stop them at the Bhudla flyover,” said Rajesh Kumar, DSP (Bawal). The Bhudla flyover is around 15 km away from the protest site where the farmers were earlier demonstrating.
“We did not resort to any lathicharge to stop them from breaking through, but we had to use water cannons and tear gas shells. However, this did not stop them,” he said.
While some protesters moved towards Delhi, a bulk of them remained seated at the border, looking to continue their protest peacefully until either their demands are met.
Farmers from Rajasthan and Haryana have been protesting against the three farm bills on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway for almost three weeks now. The numbers have swelled from barely 200 to around 1500 now after Gujarat and Maharashtra farmers joined them.
The development comes a day after talks with the centre made headsway for the first time since farmers opposed to the new agriculture laws showed up at the gates of Delhi more than a month ago.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar said there had been “mutual consensus” on two of the four demands raised by the farmer unions. The two sides agreed to meet again on January 4.
The Centre agreed to “decriminalise” stubble burning by excluding farmers from the ambit of the ‘Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2020’, and drop those provisions of the draft Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020, which are intended to change the existing mode of subsidy payment to consumers.
There was no headway on the demands to repeal the three newly enacted farm laws and provide legal guarantee on the MSP or minimum support price. These will be discussed when the two sides meet again next week.
The Indian Express
