Tag: singhu border

  • One held for attacking SHO at Singhu border, fleeing with his car: Police

    Being chased by the police, the accused abandoned the vehicle, snatched a two-wheeler from another man and fled.

  • Punjab farmer part of protests at Singhu dies of cardiac arrest

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: A 72-year-old Punjab farmer who was participating in farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s Singhu border has died of cardiac arrest, police said on Saturday.

    Hansa Singh was a resident of Moga district, a police official posted at Kundli police station in Haryana’s Sonipat said.

    Singh died of heart attack Thursday night, police said, adding his post-mortem was conducted on Friday.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at Delhi borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    READ| Farmers’ protest to go on for indefinite period, warns Rakesh Tikait

    The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations.

    However, the Centre has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.

  • ‘Informal’ school started by farmers’ group at Singhu border resumes after two-week break

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A makeshift ‘informal’ school at Delhi’s Singhu border, where farmers have been protesting the new agri laws, has resumed after a two-week break with less children owing to the tense situation following the tractor parade violence on Republic Day.

    A group of farmers from Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib had in December started the school in a makeshift tent for school going children who had accompanied their parents to the Singhu border protest site and those living in the slums nearby.

    Pioneered by writer Bir Singh and advocate Dinesh Chaddha, the temporary school is part of the multiple ‘sewa’ practices being offered at the protest site.

    ALSO READ: At Singhu border, Rakesh Tikait’s cutouts, posters and badges of farmers stir draw crowd

    Sukhwinder Singh Barwa, a resident of Roop Nagar district in Punjab, said they resumed the classes on February 5.

    “We started the school in the first week of December. There were over 170 students studying here. Due to the tense situation on Republic Day, we closed it on January 24. It was later resumed on Friday,” Barwa said.

    He said there were 30 local students who have never been to school before.

    ALSO READ: No ‘ghar wapsi’ till farmers’ demands are met, says BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    “As the schools have opened and the internet was suspended here, most of the students who came here from Punjab and other states have gone back to attend their classes and to prepare for their upcoming exams. Now around 60 students come here. They are from class 1 to 7,” he said.

    The timing of classes is from 11 am to 4 pm.

    “During morning hours from 8 am to 11 am, there is library time where people read books whatever they want according to the availability. Earlier, we used to get almost every newspaper, however, after the restrictions were imposed, we only get few Hindi and Punjabi papers,” Barwa said.

    ALSO READ: Ready to take agitation across the nation, says Rakesh Tikait

    “We are teaching students general subjects, including morale science and languages. We also have the history books of different religions and those who are interested can read them. There are eight to nine teachers who teach students in a group of 10 according to their class,” he added.

    Its not just academic learning at the makeshift school but skill learning too.

    “Many students have tried their hands in painting also and they have done a really good job. They have created several beautiful pictures on charts which we have displayed at ‘Sanjhi Sath’, the place where classes being held. Several people come here by their own and draw pictures and write slogans on charts,” Barwa said.

    ‘Sanjhi Sath’ is a reference in Punjabi used for a place where people gather to have discussions.

    Maninder Singh, a resident of Ludhiana in Punjab, said children love them a lot.

    “Sunday is a holiday, but yesterday many students came to the school and urged us to take their classes. They wanted to study. We have not planned for the future when the protest will end, but we will do something for the children” he said.

    Maninder said the volunteers came in contact with each other at the protest site and started doing their work.

    Thousands of protesting farmers had clashed with the police during the tractor rally called by farmer unions on January 26 to highlight their demand for repeal of the Centre’s three farm laws.

    Many protesters, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort and entered the monument.

    Some protesters even hoisted religious flags on its domes and the flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.

  • At Singhu border, Rakesh Tikait’s cutouts, posters and badges of farmers stir draw crowd

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The demand for cutouts of Rakesh Tikait at Singhu border underlines the growing popularity of the farmer leader credited with reviving the farmers’ movement against the Centre’s farm laws following violence during a tractor rally on Republic Day.

    Roadside stalls selling badges, posters and other literature related to the farmers stir are a common sight at Singhu border.

    Wasim Ali, who has set up such a stall at the protest site, says hand-held cutouts of Tikait are a big hit among the crowd.

    “Each cutout of Tikait is priced at Rs 20. I have been selling the cutouts since the last few days as they are in high demand,” he said. Around 700-800 such cutouts are sold every day, said Ali, a resident of Bawana in north west Delhi.

    ALSO READ: No ‘ghar wapsi’ till farmers’ demands are met, says BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    “I usually buy these cutouts from Sadar Bazar and sell them here. These are the most demanded items at my stall,” he added.

    Tikait’s image received a massive boost after he defiantly announced to continue the agitation, even as a large posse of Uttar Pradesh police personnel gathered at Ghazipur protest site after the Republic Day violence, with rumours rife that he might be arrested.

    A section of protesting farmers had entered Delhi and reached up to ITO and Red Fort in the heart of the national capital during their tractor rally on January 26.

    In clashes between police and farmers, scores were injured and property, including buses, were vandalised.

    The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader was unwell when a large number of UP police personnel gathered at Ghazipur border where he had been camping for over two months in protest against the contentious farm laws.

    ALSO READ: Ready to take agitation across the nation, says Rakesh Tikait

    A cornered Tikait, however, addressed a huge crowd at the protest site, which has now become a focal point of the agitation, after his teary-eyed speech was beamed by news channels amid dwindled presence at Ghazipur border after the January 26 violent clashes.

    He had reaffirmed the resolve of the farmers, saying “they won’t relent or retreat”.

    Tikait’s emotional appeal galvanised thousands of farmers from western UP as well as Punjab and Haryana, who took to road to join the agitation that had faced the threat of petering out in the wake of the January 26 episode.

  • Business as usual at Singhu border as action shifts to other highways

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: It was business as usual at the Singhu border as national and state highways across the country barring Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand observed a three-hour ‘chakka jam’ on Saturday.

    The protest site on the Delhi-Haryana highway, the epicentre of the ongoing farmers’ agitation, saw routine everyday activities like preparation and distribution of langar food, farmers making motivational speeches from stages, and tractors blaring rustic songs as the action shifted to the other national highways, albeit for a brief period in the day.

    “We are happy to share the spotlight with other highways. We have been holding the fort for over two months and will continue to do so. It is good that today farmers from across the country are demanding the repeal of three farm laws,” said Manmeet Bajwa (34), who has been camping at Singhu for the past 20 days.

    The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of the farmer unions protesting the three farm laws, on Friday called for roads and national highways to be blocked between 12 noon and 3 pm throughout the nation except in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

    Singhu border, which looked more crowded than before as more tractors and farmers made their way to the protest site, witnessed a heightened vigil by the security forces on the occasion.

    Drone cameras, multilayered barricades, nail-studded roads and barbed wires — now put atop the many heavy-metal barricades as well — were used as precautionary measures by the police to ensure that the kind of violence witnessed on Republic Day tractor parade is not repeated.

    The strength of security personnel, including the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and Rapid Action Force (RAF), deployed at the site was also increased.

    “I don’t know why they have to beef up the security to this level when we have said we won’t be observing the chakka-jam here. It only tells about the lack of trust between the administration and the farmers,” said Navjot Heer from Punjab’s Patiala district.

    “And in case they are doing this to simply scare us down, then they can try as hard as they can but they just won’t succeed,” said the 25-year-old.

    The ‘chakka jam’ was observed to protest the internet ban in areas near their agitation sites, harassment allegedly meted out to them by authorities, and other issues.

    The three-hour event was held on Saturday amid tight security, even as there was no such event in the national capital which was turned into a fortress with heavy security deployment by the Delhi Police, paramilitary and reserve forces personnel to prevent any untoward situation.

    The Delhi Police had also used drone cameras to keep a tight vigil at protest sites.

    Ten Delhi Metro stations, including Mandi House and ITO, were closed for the duration of the ‘chakka jam’ from 12 noon to 3 pm, and reopened after the protest ended.

    Around 50 people were detained near Shaheedi Park in central Delhi for allegedly holding an agitation in support of the ‘chakka jam’.

    The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws, had said on Friday that the protesters would not block roads in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand during the ‘chakka jam’, even as it asserted that peasants in other parts of the country would block national and state highways for three hours, but in a peaceful way.

    However, in view of the Republic Day violence that had left 500 security personnel injured and one protestor dead, the Delhi Police had made additional measures, including tightening security and intensifying vigil across the city and its border points.

    Security forces were deployed at important junctions across the national capital, including Red Fort and ITO, which had witnessed violence during the January 26 tractor rally organised by the protesting farmers.

    Multilayered barricades, barbed wires and nail-studded roads at the protest sites were also part of the precautionary measures taken by the police force.

    The police also monitored content on social media to keep a watch on those spreading rumours against the force, officials said.

    Earlier in the day, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), in a series of tweets, informed commuters that multiple stations have been closed.

    “Security Update Entry/exit gates of Mandi House, ITO and Delhi Gate are closed,” it tweeted.

    The DMRC later tweeted that entry and exit gates of Vishwavidyalaya station were also closed.

    “Entry/exit gates of Lal Quila, Jama Masjid, Janpath and Central Secretariat are closed. Interchange facility is available. Entry/exit gates of Khan Market and Nehru Place are closed,” it tweeted.

    In the evening, the Delhi Metro stated that entry and exit gates of all 10 metro stations closed in view of ‘chakka jam’ had been re-opened, and normal service had resumed.

    At all the three main protest sites, farmers camping there for over 70 days were busy with routine affairs and there was not much activity on Saturday.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Deepak Yadav said although the protestors had maintained that they would not enter the national capital, the security force as a precautionary measure had made adequate arrangements to maintain law and order.

    “There are additional deployment of pickets at all the border points. All vehicles are being checked thoroughly at the entry and exit points of pickets and borders. Additional buses had been taken and extra barricades put up at the picket points across the city,” he said.

    Meanwhile, thousands of farmers blocked the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway in Haryana.

    Those coming to the stretch with their vehicles were politely informed about the protest and requested to turn back.

    Biscuits and fruits were distributed to the protesting farmers.

    “I came to the stretch at 11 am. There were very few people then, but in no time many started gathering and now it is full. The purpose is to remain peaceful and do just what is instructed to us by our leaders — block the road till 3 pm, ” Mukesh Sharma, a local farmer supporting the movement, said earlier in the day.

    After the violence on January 26, Delhi Police Commissioner S N Srivastava had accused the protesting farmer union leaders of betrayal and breaching the agreement as thousands of peasants deviated from their pre-decided routes for the tractor parade.

    Tens of thousands of farmers atop tractors had broken barriers, clashed with police and entered the city from various points to lay siege to the Red Fort on Republic Day.

    Internet remains suspended at the three major protest sites of Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri borders and surrounding areas.

    The MHA ordered the first suspension of internet connection amid the ongoing farmers’ protest on January 26, when farmers’ tractor march led to a violent stand-off between protesters and the Delhi Police.

  • Talked to farmers inside Tihar Jail, will write detailed report: Journalist arrested by Delhi Police

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Freelance journalist Mandeep Punia, who was arrested by the Delhi Police from the Singhu border, has said that he talked to farmers and scribbled notes on his legs inside the Tihar Jail to write a report.

    Punia was released from the prison on Wednesday after a court granted him bail.

    Talking to reporters outside the jail, he said, “It (being inside the prison) turned out to be an opportunity for me. I got a chance to talk to the farmers lodged in the jail and scribbled notes on my legs.

    I am going to write a detailed report.”

    “My work is to report from ground zero…I asked the farmers why and how they were arrested,” he said.

    Punia said he had been covering the protest at the Singhu border from the day it started.

    ALSO READ: Please understand farmers’ pain, stop your monologue: Opposition tears into government

    “It was my responsibility as a journalist to report it truthfully and faithfully. I was trying to do that. I was trying to find out the people behind the attack on the movement site. My work was interrupted by the arrest. I lost valuable time.

    I do feel that that I was wronged,” he tweeted.

    The police interfered with my work. That is my regret. Not the violence that i faced. This incident has strengthened my resolve to continue with my work, that is reporting from the ground the most dangerous and yet the most necessary part of journalism. (end)
    — Mandeep Punia (@mandeeppunia1) February 3, 2021

    He alleged that the police interfered with his work and said the incident had strengthened his resolve to continue with his work.

    Punia was arrested at the Singhu border on charges of “obstructing public servants in discharge of public functions”, “assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty”, and “voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty”.

    He was sent to 14-day judicial custody on Sunday by the court of metropolitan magistrate.

    However, he was granted bail on Tuesday after furnishing a personal bond of Rs 25,000.

  • Farmers’ protest: Media bodies condemn arrest of journalists by Delhi police

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Media bodies on Sunday condemned the police action against two journalists who were picked up during the farmers’ protests at Delhi’s Singhu border for allegedly misbehaving with police personnel.

    They said that such crackdowns impinge on the media’s right to report freely and interferes with its right to freedom of expression. Freelance journalist Mandeep Punia and Dharmender Singh (with Online News India) were detained by Delhi Police last evening for allegedly misbehaving with personnel on duty.

    While Singh was later released, the police arrested Punia on Sunday. The Indian Women’s Press Corps, Press Club of India and the Press Association demanded Punia’s immediate release and said no journalist should be disturbed while carrying out their duties at any place.

    “Such crackdowns impinge on the media’s right to report freely and interferes with our right to freedom of expression, and freedom of the press as guaranteed by the Constitution of India,” the bodies said in a joint statement.

    They said that Punia has been reporting on the present farmers’ agitation right from the beginning and his arrest “is part of the government crackdown on journalists to prevent them from doing their job independently and freely”.

    “Punia is a young freelance journalist who contributes to The Caravan and Junputh. The Delhi Police used brutal force while picking him up (on Saturday) and did not share his whereabouts to other media colleague entire night,” the media bodies said.

    They said the copy of the FIR against Punia was issued only this morning. Four IPC sections — 186 (voluntarily obstructing public servant in discharge of his duties), 353 (assaulting or using criminal force on a public servant in execution of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant in the discharge of his duty) and 34 (acts done in furtherance to common intention) have been pressed against him, they said.

    Police had earlier said they placed barricades at the border following the violence on Friday to ensure that no one could get through. However, some people including the journalist were trying to remove the barricades, the police had alleged, adding the scribe also misbehaved with the police personnel there.

    On Friday, clashes broke out at Singhu border between farmers and a large group of men claiming to be local residents who hurled stones at each other.

    The Singhu border is one of the main protest sites gainst the new farm laws. Delhi Police SHO (Alipur) was injured in the violence. At least 44 people, including the man who attacked the SHO, have been arrested in connection with the incident.

  • Freelance journalist arrested for ‘misbehaving’ with police at Singhu border

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A freelance journalist was arrested from the Singhu border on Sunday for allegedly misbehaving with the police personnel on duty at the farmers’ protest site there, officials said.

    A case was registered against him and he has been arrested now, a senior police officer said, a day after the scribe was detained.

    Police had earlier said that they placed barricades at the border following the violence on Friday to ensure that no one could get through.

    However, some people including the journalist were trying to remove the barricades, the police had alleged, adding the scribe also misbehaved with the police personnel there.

    On Friday at the Singhu border, there were clashes between farmers and a large group of men claiming to be local residents who hurled stones at each other.

    The Singhu border is one of the main protest sites gainst the new farm laws.

    Delhi Police SHO (Alipur) was injured in the violence.

    At least 44 people, including the man who attacked the SHO, have been arrested in connection with the incident.

  • Freelance journalist detained at Singhu border for allegedly ‘misbehaving with police’

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A freelance journalist was detained at the Singhu border on Saturday for allegedly misbehaving with the police, officials said.

    Barricades had been placed at the border following the violence on Friday to ensure that no one could get through, a senior police officer said.

    Some people including the journalist were trying to remove the barricades.

    The journalist also misbehaved with police personnel and was detained, the officer said.

    On Friday, clashes broke out between farmers and a large group of men claiming to be local residents who hurled stones at each other at the Singhu border, one of the main protest sites against the new farm laws.

    Delhi Police SHO (Alipur) was injured in the violence.

    At least 44 people, including the man who attacked the SHO, have been arrested in connection with the incident.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Randeep Surjewala asks Haryana govt to immediately restore mobile internet services in state

    By ANI
    CHANDIGARH: Condemning the Haryana government’s decision to stop mobile internet services in the state, Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Saturday demanded “immediate” resumption of services.

    The Haryana government on Friday suspended all mobile internet, SMS, and dongle services in 17 districts including Sonipat, Palwal, and Jhajjar till 5 pm on January 30. The voice calls, however, are exempted as earlier from the suspension.

    ​The districts under the fresh suspension order include Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal, Panipat, Hisar, Jind, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Fatehabad, Rewari, and Sirsa.The suspension came after violence took place in the national capital during the farmers’ tractor rally on Republic Day.

    ALSO READ | Farmers’ protest: Internet snapped at Delhi borders for two days

    Surjewala issued a release in which he said that the Khattar-Chautala government in Haryana has stopped the mobile internet services in the state with the intention to crush the farmers’ agitation.

    He said that during this Corona pandemic period, the persons working from home, school-college and university students, the traders and shopkeepers availing mobile banking services and the common people are inconvenienced by the move.

    “These days various examinations are going on and during such times disruption in mobile internet services has been putting the students appearing in examinations in distress,” the Congress leader said.

    ALSO WATCH:

    He said that the BJP-JJP Government has been “so engrossed in its evil designs to crush and discredit the farmers’ agitation that it seems to be least bothered about the grave inconvenience being caused to the common people on account of government’s wrong decisions.”

    “This government should not be under any illusion to treat the peacefully agitating farmers as a vulnerable lot and the persecution of farmers shall not be tolerated under any circumstances and the entire opposition and the people of the country are in rock solid support with the farmers,” he added.