New Delhi:Protesting farmers on Friday suspended their foot march to Delhi after a few of them suffered injuries due to teargas shells lobbed by security personnel. Punjab farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher, said, "We have called back the 'jatha' in view of the injuries suffered by a few farmers."
The farmer leader claimed that five to six protesting farmers were injured due to the teargas shelling by Haryana security personnel. The two forums of the farmer bodies, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, will decide the next course of action after a meeting, he added.
The farmer leader said that they are giving the government a new deadline for talks with the farmers. Sarwan Singh Pandher said that when Haryana Police asked them about the talks they wanted, we told them that we want the central government minister and especially Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan to talk to us, otherwise we will again march to Delhi on December 8 at 12 noon.
The police have assured us of taking our point to the top leadership, after which they have postponed the agitation, he said adding that they do not want any kind of confrontation with the police. Haryana government officials have asked for a memorandum from us. We will wait for the talks and if there are no talks, we will go to Delhi on December 8.
Speaking on the farmers' movement, Haryana Cabinet Minister Anil Vij has said that farmers do not have any permission to protest in Delhi. "If any protest or demonstration is to be held, then permission has to be taken. Permission has to be taken from the administration even for demonstration in one's own city. Farmers have not taken permission and how can they be allowed to proceed until they take permission?" he said.
Earlier, a 'jatha' of 101 farmers on Friday began its 'Delhi Chalo' to Delhi from their protest site at Shambhu border, but was stopped a few metres away by a multilayered barricading.
As the farmers refused to retreat from the barricades and tried to move towards Delhi, the police lobbed teargas shells at the protesters, leaving several injured, farmers' organisations claimed. The injured protesters have been shifted to hospital.
Haryana police repeatedly asked farmers not to proceed further, and cited the prohibitory order clamped under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The Ambala district administration has banned any unlawful assembly of five or more persons in the district. The farmers are marching to force the Centre for a legal guarantee for minimum support price for crops.
A few farmers holding farmers' unions flags pushed the iron mesh, put up by the security personnel, down the bridge constructed over the Ghaggar river. A heavy deployment of security personnel has been made on the Haryana side of the border.
The deputy commissioner has directed that no procession on foot, vehicles, or other modes will be allowed till further orders. Earlier, Ambala authorities ordered the closure of all government and private schools in the district. Carrying essential items, farmers have already said that they will move ahead in a peaceful manner.
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.