Farmers set to begin Delhi march at 1 pm, water cannons deployed

According to order issued by the Deputy Commissioner, any procession on foot, vehicles, or other modes has been prohibited till further orders

Chandigarh: A ‘jatha’ (group) of 101 farmers will embark on a foot march to Delhi at 1 pm on Friday from their protest site at the Shambhu border on the Punjab and Haryana border. The farmers are marching to force the Centre for a legal guarantee for minimum support price for crops.

A heavy deployment of security personnel has been made on the Haryana side of the border. The Ambala district administration has already issued an order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), restricting any unlawful assembly of five or more persons in the district.

---

According to the order issued by the Deputy Commissioner, any procession on foot, vehicles, or other modes has been prohibited till further orders. Meanwhile, Ambala authorities ordered the closure of all government and private schools in the district.

“The government and private schools will remain closed on Friday,” District Education Officer Ambala Suresh Kumar said. A multilayered barricading is already in place at the Shambhu border point — Rajpura (Punjab)-Ambala (Haryana) – on National Highway-44.

Water cannons have also been deployed at the Shambhu border. Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher termed the 101 farmers who will begin the march ‘marjeevras’, someone willing to die for a cause. Pandher, who said the march would be carried out in a “peaceful manner,” slammed the Haryana administration’s prohibiting the foot march.

On Thursday, he said farmers will not take any tractor-trolley with them. The Ambala deputy commissioner-cum-district magistrate in an order dated November 30 prohibited unlawful assembly of five or more persons, and taking out any procession on foot, vehicles or through any other mode.