UP farmers march towards Delhi, demand loan waivers

Hundreds of farmers from Uttar Pradesh were on their way to Kisan Ghat in Delhi demanding pending sugarcane dues, loan waivers and cheap electricity, among others.

The farmers who had stayed put in Noida on Friday were at Delhi Gate, on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, around noon, causing an obstruction in traffic along the route.

"Traffic is obstructed in both carriageways from Ghazipur Border UP Gate on NH-9, NH-24 towards Nizamuddin due to the farmers' rally," the Delhi Traffic Police said.

The farmers, protesting under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Sangathan (BKS), had started their march from Saharanpur on September 11. While in Noida, the farmers held talks with government representatives but those failed to materialise.

They are on their way to Kisan Ghat, the memorial of former prime minister and farmers' leader Chaudhary Charan Singh, in the national capital.

Among their other major demands is an implementation of the Swaminathan Committee's recommendation.