As Delhi Preps For Mega March, Centre Reaches Out To Farmers Again

Security has been intensified along the Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri borders to stop farmers' mega protest in Delhi tomorrow.

Security barricades have already been installed at the borders to stop the farmers from entering the national capital. Nails have been erected on roads so that if the protesting farmers try to enter the city on vehicles, their tyres can be punctured, officials said.

"As many as 1,000 to 1,500 Delhi Police personnel will be deployed in each of these border areas. However, the pattern of deployment and the number of personnel will change as per the situation in these areas," police sources told NDTV.

Several teams have been formed to keep strict vigil on bus stands, metro stations, railway stations and roads to ensure that farmers do not enter the city using any other mode of conveyance.

Elaborate arrangements have been made to seal the Punjab-Haryana borders in Ambala, Jind, and Fatehabad districts.The Haryana government has also ordered the suspension of mobile internet services and bulk SMS in seven districts - Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa - ahead of the farmers' proposed march.

Large gatherings have been banned in all areas along the UP border within the ambit of the North-East district of Delhi.

This comes even as the farmers are readying their tractor trolleys to participate in the march. In Rajpura, farmers took out a tractor march as part of their preparations to head towards Delhi.

Three union ministers - junior Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, junior Home Minister Nityanand Rai, and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal - will be meeting the leaders of farmer organisations today. The first round of meeting was held on Thursday.

More than 200 farmer unions are expected to begin the march tomorrow over several demands, including the enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

The farmers are also demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.