An injured farmer being carried after teargas shells were lobbed by security personnel to disperse protesting farmers following the commencement of their foot march to Delhi, at Shambhu border in Patiala district, Punjab, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. A 'jatha' of 101 farmers on Friday began its foot march to Delhi from their protest site at Shambhu border, but was stopped a few metres away by a multilayered barricading.
PTI
Agitating farmers seeking a legal guarantee for MSP on Friday temporarily suspended their foot march to Delhi after at least six of them suffered injuries due to teargas shells that were lobbed by the police at the Punjab-Haryana border.
A ‘jatha’ of 101 farmers had started its march from the protest site at the Shambhu border but was stopped a few metres away by a multilayered barricading.
Security personnel used teargas as some farmers reached the barricades put up on the Haryana side of the Shambhu border. Haryana Police asked the farmers not to proceed further and cited a prohibitory order clamped under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
Some of the farmers were seen uprooting iron nails and barbed wire from the road and covering tear-gas shells with wet jute bags to counter the smoke.
Visuals showed heavy security deployment at the Shambhu border.
Punjab farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said they have suspended their foot march to Delhi temporarily after a few farmers were injured due to teargas shells and called back 101 farmers from ‘Delhi Chalo’. The farmer leader said the ‘jatha’ will now leave for Delhi on Sunday.
As a precautionary measure, the Haryana government suspended mobile internet and bulk SMS service in 11 villages of Ambala district from December 6 to 9 to prevent spread of misinformation during the protest.
Delhi Police is also on alert and security has been tightened at the border points of the city.
The farmers, gathered under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, have been demanding the Centre to give them a legal guarantee for minimum support price for crops, farm loan waiver among other things.
They have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces. This was their third attempt to march towards Delhi in the last 10 months. Pandher clarified that the group intends to march peacefully without breaking barricades. “The doors for talks are open from the farmers’ side,” he said.