Dilli Chalo: Security tightened as farmers march towards capital

New Delhi: Security has been ramped up across Delhi’s borders ahead of a march by Punjab farmers to the national capital scheduled for Friday.

"Delhi Police is on alert, and security arrangements have been reinforced at the city’s border points. While there is a limited deployment at the Singhu border for now, it may be increased depending on the situation at the Shambu border along the Punjab-Haryana boundary," a senior police officer told PTI.

The officer also warned that traffic disruptions are expected at the city’s borders and central areas due to the heightened security measures.

Additionally, police are monitoring activity at the Noida border, where farmers from Uttar Pradesh continue their sit-in protest, the officer added.

Farmers, mainly seeking a legal guarantee to minimum support price for crops, had earlier attempted to march into the national capital on February 13 and February 21, but they were stopped by security forces at Shambhu and Khanauri on Punjab-Haryana borders.

Farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points since then.

On Wednesday, the district administration of Ambala in Haryana asked Punjab farmers to reconsider their proposed march to Delhi and told them to contemplate further action only after getting permission from Delhi Police.

Delhi Police, however, said it has not received any request from Punjab farmers to march to Delhi.

The Ambala administration has imposed Section 163 of the BNSS restricting the assembly of five or more persons in the district and has issued notices at the protest site near the Shambhu border.

On Monday, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said a delegation of farmers met Ambala's superintendent of police and informed him about their foot march to Delhi on December 6.

Pandher said the delegation had assured the police that the march would be peaceful and traffic along the route would not be blocked.

Besides the MSP, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, and no hike in electricity tariff.

They are also demanding "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.