Farmers' protest: Heavy security, traffic diversions cause inconvenience to villagers along inter-State border

NEW DELHI: As agitating farmers head to the national capital, villagers residing along the border with Haryana are facing inconvenience, with tight security arrangements and traffic diversions making daily commuting difficult.

Many are also worried about possible face-off between protesters and police on the heavily barricaded entry roads.

The multi-layer security arrangements to prevent the entry of protesters in Delhi have restricted the movement of locals.

"We have nothing to do with any protest, but to reach home after work we are asked to show our ID cards at more than three different places," said Raja Ram, who works as a labourer and is a resident of Tikri Kalan.

The Delhi Police has been preparing to stop the farmers from entering the national capital aa a meeting between the agitating groups and Union government in Chandigarh yielded no results.

According to officials, more than 5,000 police personnel, including paramilitary forces, have been deployed in border areas -- Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur - to maintain law and order.

"Farmers are coming from Haryana and Punjab and no locals are involved, but due to such protests we face difficulties doing our business as police do not allow us to open our shops," said Devendra Singh, who runs an eatery near Tikri border Metro station.

People are also facing hardships due to traffic chaos caused by diversions from different routes from Mundka of Delhi towards Haryana.

"There are many schools in villages. Children are facing a lot of difficulty in reaching home. If police have diverted traffic, they must deploy someone to manage it as well," said Surender Kumar, a resident of Tikri Kalan village.

Farmers started heading towards the national capital from different villages of Punjab and Haryana on their tractor-trolleys, loaded with dry rations, water-proof sheets and mattresses.

The Delhi Police on Monday enforced section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in the entire city and completely secured the city's borders.

"We are fully prepared to deal with any kind of law and order situation. Multi-layered arrangements are there to stop farmers from entering Delhi," a senior police officer said.

Surveillance technologies such as drones and CCTV cameras are being utilised to monitor the border areas.

Several farmers associations, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, had called for a protest on February 13 to demand a law guaranteeing Minimum Support Price.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have announced that more than 200 farm unions will march to Delhi.