Farmers from Punjab Commence 'Delhi Chalo' March Amidst Tightened Security and Political Deadlock

Punjabi farmers launched their 'Delhi Chalo' march to demand their demands on Tuesday morning. The discussion with two Union ministers over their requests, which included a legal guarantee to MSP for crops, ended without a resolution.

The farmers want to go from the boundaries of Dabwali, Khanauri-Jind, and Ambala-Shambhu to Delhi.


Around ten in the morning, a large number of farmers started their march from Fatehgarh Sahib with their tractor carts, heading towards Delhi across the Shambhu border. Through the Khanauri border, another group is making their way from Mehal Kalan in Sangrur towards the national capital.

To thwart the planned march, Haryana's authorities have reinforced the state's borders with Punjab at many locations in Ambala, Jind, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, and Sirsa with concrete blocks, iron nails, and barbed wire.

Water cannons and other riot control equipment have also been stationed at many locations around the borders of Punjab and Haryana.

In addition, the Haryana government has enforced restrictions in up to fifteen districts under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which forbids gatherings of five or more individuals and forbids any kind of protest or march using tractor-trolleys.

With the installation of multi-layer barriers, concrete blocks, iron nails, and container walls at border crossings, Delhi's security has been stepped up.

Tractor trolleys from various regions of Punjab departed on Monday to participate in the protest march.

Farmers loaded up necessities like beds, kitchenware, and dry food into tractor trolleys emblazoned with agricultural union flags.

Among the tractor trolley convoy was an excavator, which one Amritsar farmer said will be used to breach the barriers.

The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) had declared that farmers will go to Delhi on Tuesday to put pressure on the Central government to grant their demands, which included passing legislation ensuring a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops.

The general secretary of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Sarwan Singh Pandher, said that they did not want a new committee to consider their requests since doing so would have meant putting the matter on the back burner. He made this statement while alluding to the impasse with the Centre over their demands.

"We want to avoid breaching any barriers. We want to have a discourse to resolve our differences. But what will we do if they—the Center—do nothing? It is our obligation," Pandher said to reporters on Tuesday in the Fatehgarh Sahib area.

He said that the farmers in Haryana were providing them with a great deal of help.

Pandher said, "We do not think the government is serious about any of our demands," late on Monday after a second session of talks with the Center that lasted more than five hours. We believe they have no desire to comply with our requests. At ten a.m. tomorrow, we will march towards Delhi." However, a consensus was reached on most issues and a formula for resolving some others through the formation of a committee was proposed, according to Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, who attended the second round of talks with the farm leaders along with Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal.

"We continue to hope that discussions will be held by agricultural bodies. We'll work to find solutions in the next days," Munda said after the conference.

The administration wants to create a committee to look into debt waivers, legalizing MSPs, and putting the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations into action, according to Jagjit Singh Dallewal, head of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political).

"We will apprise our farmers in a forum what happened in the meeting," he said.

When questioned about the appeal for the "Delhi Chalo" march, he said, "It is our compulsion to move towards Delhi."

In addition to a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are demanding the following: the reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, withdrawal from the World Trade Organization, pensions for farmers and farm laborers, waiver of farm debt, police cases against and "justice" for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, and compensation for the families of farmers who lost their lives during the previous agitation, among other things.

Fifty members of the Haryana Police and sixty-four companies of paramilitary troops have been stationed in different districts of the state.

These individuals are stationed along the border and in vulnerable areas, carrying anti-riot gear.

According to a spokesman, miscreants and cunning elements are also being watched over by CCTV cameras and drones.

According to the spokesman, the Haryana Police is more than capable of handling any disruptions or undesirable situations.

Police have issued a traffic advice, advising travelers from Chandigarh to Delhi to use the Panchkula, Barwala, Saha, Barara, Babain, Ladwa, Pipli, and Kurukshetra routes.

Another option is to go via Panchkula, Barwala, Yamunanagar, Ladwa, Indri, and Karnal. They said in a post on X that the same routes may be utilized to go from Delhi to Chandigarh.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.