Ahead of the farmers’ protest march, police have put up barricades and issued an advisory for commuters travelling from Noida to Delhi today.
Farmers from Punjab have announced that they will march to Delhi this week to demand a discussion on Minimum Support Price (MSP). Police has put up barricades and issued an advisory for commuters travelling from Noida to Delhi today, as the first group of farmers, led by the Bhartiya Kisan Parishad (BKP), will begin their march today.
The protesting farmers will march from the Maha Maya flyover in Noida at noon. Photos from the spot showed massive traffic jams leading to Delhi.
The farmers, under the banners of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), have been protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, after security forces blocked their attempt to march to Delhi.
Farmers’ protest march from Noida to Delhi today: Check traffic advisory routes to avoid
More farmers will join the protest from December 6, with the march proceeding daily from 9 am to 5 pm. The agitating farmers will spend the nights on the road.
What the farmers are demanding
Addressing the media on Sunday, Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said farmers have been protesting at Shambhu and Khanauri for 293 days.
He criticized the BJP-led government, stating that it has not engaged in any talks with the farmers since February 18. He accused the Centre of avoiding dialogue and reaffirmed that the farmers reject contract farming, demanding instead a legal guarantee on the MSP for crops.
A three-member panel of Union ministers—Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai – had met with farmer representatives on February 18, but the farmers rejected the Centre’s proposal to purchase pulses, maize, and cotton at the MSP for five years.
Besides a legal guarantee on the MSP, the protesters are demanding farm loan waiver, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.
Guramneet Singh Mangat, another farmer leader, mentioned that when the first group of farmers begins its march towards Delhi on December 6, other farmer bodies in Kerala, Uttarakhand, and Tamil Nadu will also stage marches towards their respective state assemblies.
