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Delhi Police allows farmers’ unions to hold tractor march on Republic Day
- Tractor parades likely to start from Ghazipur, Tikri and Singhu border points
- The farmers have been allowed to enter Delhi and travel up to 100 km distance on each route
The protesting farmers' unions have received a nod from the Delhi police to hold the proposed tractor march on Republic Day, a farmers leader said after meeting with the cops.
"Tractor parades likely to start from Ghazipur, Tikri and Singhu border points. Details of the march will be finalised tonight," said farmers leaders.
The farmers have been allowed to enter Delhi and travel up to 100 km distance on each route, farmer leader Darshan Pal said.
On Friday, the Delhi Police had proposed a route for the tractor march on which discussions were held on Saturday, following which, the nod was given.
The police had earlier asked farmers to hold the tractor march on the Kundli border. The proposal was rejected by the protesting unions, who were standing firm with their plan of holding the march on the Outer Ring Road.
The farmers' plans had also hit the roadblock when the Centre approached the Supreme Court through Delhi Police against the march, claiming that it would dishonour the country's pride if farmers were to disrupt the Republic Day parade.
The Centre withdrew its plea earlier this week after the Supreme Court said that "it is a police matter".
The police has the "authority" to deal with the issue pertaining to the proposed tractor march in Delhi on the Republic Day, said a bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
Following the ruling, the police held three rounds of talks with the protesting farmers.
Govt-farmers meeting:
The 11th round of talks between farm unions and the government on Friday failed to end the ongoing impasse with farmers pressing on with their demand for a repeal of the laws passed last year.
A date for the next meeting is yet to be fixed.
“We told farm unions to reconsider our proposal. If they agree, we can meet again," said agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar. “We gave many proposals, but a resolution is not possible when the sanctity of agitation is lost." He alleged forces working against farmers’ interests are trying to ensure that the agitation continues.
The Centre offered to suspend the laws for up to 18 months at a meeting with farm unions on 20 January. Earlier, it had offered to amend provisions to allay farmers’ fears. Farm unions rejected both.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November 28, demanding a repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops.
Enacted in September last year, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP (minimum support price) and do away with the "mandi" (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
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First Published:23 Jan 2021, 07:19 PM IST
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