Punjab farmers stopped on way to Delhi as Haryana cops seal Shambhu border

They said traffic on the Ambala-Amritsar national highway will resume soon.

A day-long Kisan Mahapanchayat was supposed to happen at Kisan Ghat in Delhi under the banner of ‘Desh Bachao Morcha’ on Tuesday against the India-US trade deal.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann slammed the Haryana government for preventing farmers from moving towards Delhi and asked the Centre to invite farmers for talks. Besides Punjab, farmers from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh were claimed to have been part of the march for the Mahapanchayat.

Earlier in the day, around a thousand farmers from Punjab, carrying flags of their outfits, arrived at the Shambhu border to proceed to Delhi on buses.

To prevent Punjab farmers from proceeding towards Delhi, the Haryana authorities also sealed the Khanauri border in Jind district. According to farmer leaders, scores of farmers were stopped by the police at the Khanauri border, Shahabad in Kurukshetra, and Karnal while they were on their way to Delhi.

The Haryana Police further installed five-layered barricading on the Jammu–Katra Expressway to stop the movement of farmers who had arrived from Mansa district of Punjab on Tuesday morning.

When the police did not allow them to move ahead, hundreds of farmers sat on a dharna on the expressway at around 10 am. They remained there until 5.30 pm, when the detained farmer leaders were released.

National Highway-44, which connects Delhi with Punjab, and the Jammu-Katra National Highway were among the worst affected due to the protests, especially in Ambala and Kaithal districts.

However, the main centre of the farmers’ movement in Haryana remained the Shambhu border in Ambala, where thousands of farmers from Punjab had gathered to proceed towards Delhi. The Haryana authorities had already sealed the border before the farmers reached the site. Authorities in Ambala also imposed prohibitory orders across the district.

A senior Haryana Police officer told The Indian Express that around 15 companies of security forces, including paramilitary personnel, had been deployed at the Shambhu border. To prevent the movement of protesters, the police erected multiple barricades and placed cement blocks on the bridge over the Ghaggar River at Shambhu. Alternative traffic arrangements were also made for commuters travelling between Haryana and Punjab.

BKU (Bhagat Singh) spokesperson Tejveer Singh said that the Haryana minister assured the farmers that those detained, including farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni, would be released after discussions with the Chief Minister.

He added that the farmers were also assured that a meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan would be arranged within the next 8-10 days.