Farmers protest: Delhi Police starts removing barricades on Ghazipur border

NEW DELHI: In a major relief to commuters, the Delhi Police has started removing cemented barricades that were placed on the Delhi-Ghazipur border, which were intended to stop farmers from approaching the capital. The Delhi Police said that it will normalise traffic for citizens.

After farmers announced their Delhi Chalo protest march in the first week of February in Delhi, barricades were placed on both sides of the road below the flyover on the Ghazipur border, in a bid to stop farmers from rolling in tractors into the national capital during their protest.

Commuters used to face major traffic congestion owing to the barricades. The Delhi Police is removing them so that the road can be accessible for commuters.

Earlier on March 10, farmers who have been protesting for almost one month now, squatted on railway tracks at many places in Punjab as part of a 'rail roko' protest called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha to press the Centre to accept their demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

The protesting farmers have put forward a raft of demands before the Centre, including a legal guarantee to MSP on their produce, withdrawal of police cases against them during earlier protests, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, debt waivers and no hike in electricity tariff.

During the last round of talks with the farmers' delegation, which ended past midnight on February 18, the panel of three Union ministers made an offer to buy five crops--moong dal, urad dal, tur dal, maize, and cotton--from farmers at MSP for five years through central agencies. However, the protesting farmers turned down the offer and returned to their protest sites.