Security up in Gurugram as farmers stopped on Haryana-Rajasthan border

Gurugram/New Delhi, December 13

Security in Gurugram district was beefed up on Sunday with the deployment of more police, rapid action force and even paramilitary personnel even as hundreds of farmers from Rajasthan were stopped on the Haryana-Rajasthan border the previous night.

The protesting farmers staged a dharna at the interstate border point on the service lane of the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway after police stopped them from proceeding further on Saturday night. They are now awaiting more farmers to join in.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police also stepped up vigil on the national capital’s border with Haryana as farmers plan to block the Jaipur National Highway-8, as part of their protest against the Centre’s new agri laws.

The city police had on Saturday increased security arrangements by deploying additional personnel and placing more concrete barriers.

Measures have also been taken to ensure commuters do not face inconvenience, a senior police officer said.

Sources said more police personnel than farmers were seen deployed at the Rajasthan-Haryana border falling in Gurugram district on Sunday.

"Thousands of police personnel along with water cannons, cranes/JCBs and anti-riot equipment have been stationed across the National Highway to stop farmers from entering Gurugram area," said Nikita Gahlaut, DCP (Manesar).

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Farmer leaders on Saturday had said that they were ready to hold talks with the government but will first discuss repealing of the three new farm laws, and announced that representatives of their unions would sit on a hunger strike during a nationwide protest on Monday.

As of Saturday evening, two groups of farmers from Rajasthan, with more expected to join them on Sunday, turned up to participate in the call for "blocking" the NH-48. As the protestors sat on a dharna on the NH's service lane, they shouted slogans to demand the repeal of the three new central farm laws.

Earlier, Swaraj India national President Yogendra Yadav had tweeted that the farmers from Rajasthan and Haryana would gather at Kotputli and Behror before their proposed march to Delhi on December 13.

According to a senior police officer who did not wish to be named, the Haryana Police had changed its strategy to stop farmers from proceeding further, putting up barricades on the Haryana-Rajasthan border in the district till Delhi-Gurugram border and digging up trenches on roads.

The police have been deployed on the Haryana-Rajasthan border and at Bawal, Sudhrawali, Bilaspur Chowk, Panchgaon Chowk near Kherki Daula toll plaza, Shankar Chowk, and Delhi-Gurugram border on the Expressway.

Haryana's farmer leader Rampal Jat said: "We are waiting for more protesters to join us. Farmers from different villages in Gurugram district will also rally on the Rajasthan-Haryana border. We are expecting thousands of farmers to participate." He said that they all plan to join the farmers already protesting on Delhi borders at Tikri and Singhu.

"We have made preparation to stay put for months at the protest spot, bringing along food items, clothes, water and other essentials," he added.

"We know that we will be stopped by the police and we are prepared for that. This is our protest against the three black farms law and we will win, sooner or later," Jat asserted.

Yogendra Yadav, who along with farmers and members of worker union, moved towards Delhi on foot on Sunday, said that mobilisation of protesters was on from several districts of Rajasthan and south Haryana districts for Sunday's march.

On Sunday afternoon, traffic movement on the Expressway on the Haryana-Rajasthan border was slow. -- IANS/PTI