"Will Remain At Border, Decision To March To Delhi Not Changed": Farmer Leader

The general secretary of the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Sarwan Singh Pandher, said on Monday that the decision to March towards Delhi has not changed. The farmer leader said that the groups of farmers will remain at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders till the government opens the roads to Delhi.

"The farmers from Punjab and Haryana will remain here (Khanauri and Shambhu border), we will not move forward without our tractors and trolleys. We have not changed our decision to march towards Delhi, we will wait until the government reopens the roads," Pandher said while speaking to ANI on Monday.

He said that the farmers from other states have been asked to join the protests and they will be coming by train or any other means.

"We have asked farmers from other states to march towards Delhi using railways, buses, or any other vehicle on March 6," the farmer leader said.

He further asserted that the protests will continue peacefully continue at the borders.

Earlier on February 29, the Haryana police lodged an FIR in connection with the death of a farmer youth, Shubkaran Singh, at the Khanauri Border.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) national body has given a call for the Mahapanchayat in Delhi on March 14 to highlight issues of a legal guarantee of MSP, against the electricity amendment bill, freedom from debt, old age pension, rolling back of labour codes, and other pending issues.

Giving a call to march to Delhi, the farmers have been camping at multiple points in areas bordering the national capital since February 13 along with their tractors, mini-vans, and pickup trucks, demanding, among others, a law guaranteeing MSP (minimum support price) and withdrawal of police cases against farmers during earlier protests.

During the last round of talks, 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 demand and returned to their protest sites.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)