Delhi Cahalo call: Farmers stage sit-ins, block roads in some UP districts

In protest against the Centre's farm laws and the police action on agitating farmers, the BKU activists blocked the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway at Nawla Kothi in Muzaffarnagar district and staged sit-ins in various places in Meerut and Baghpat. With the western UP farmers joining the stir and blocking several stretches of the Delhi-Dehradun Highway, the traffic on the almost entire stretch of this road, right from Hardwar to Delhi had to be suspended, leading to long queues of vehicles.

Amid the Punjab and Haryana farmers’ “Delhi Chalo” call in protest against the three Central farm laws, their Uttar Pradesh counterparts on Friday staged sit-ins and demonstration at many places in the state, including Lucknow. Other places hit by farmers’ stir included Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat and Gautam Budh Nagar in western UP, besides Jhansi and Jalaun in its Bundelkhand region, where the peasants’ gathering on various roads resulted in considerable blockades and traffic disruptions.

The key roads affected by the stir included Delhi-Dehradun National Highway and Jhansi-Mirzapur highway. In Lucknow, Harnam Singh Verma, the vice president of UP unit of Bharatiya Kisan Union, led a protest in Naubasta Kala under Chinhat police station area on Friday morning.

Verma said 77 farmers were arrested during the protest. Police, however, said some farmers were briefly detained.

"Our agitation will not stop. Farmers will march to Delhi from Lucknow on tractor-trollies," Verma said. In Lucknow, farmers held protests at five places including Ahimamau, Chinhat and Mohanlalganj, where they were detained and later released, said Joint Police Commissioner Naveen Arora.

"The total number of agitating farmers were around 250 and none of them was arrested," Arora added. ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said police personnel have been deployed to ensure that law and order is not affected in the state amid farmers’ “Delhi Chalo” call.

There was “no impact” of farmers' protest in Lucknow, he added. In protest against the Centre's farm laws and the police action on agitating farmers, the BKU activists blocked the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway at Nawla Kothi in Muzaffarnagar district and staged sit-ins in various places in Meerut and Baghpat.

With the western UP farmers joining the stir and blocking several stretches of the Delhi-Dehradun Highway, the traffic on the almost entire stretch of this road, right from Hardwar to Delhi had to be suspended, leading to long queues of vehicles. Due to the heavy deployment of police, the situation, however, remained under control as the administrative machinery had been on high alert since the BKU decided to join the protest.

In Baghpat, BKU activists blocked traffic on the Sonipat highway using tractors and raised slogans against the new farm laws. The BKU had given a call to stage protests on the national highways of the state after which traffic routes had been diverted in the district. Baghpat Superintendent of Police Abhishek Singh said to maintain law and order situation, magistrates and police have been deployed in strength in Nivada area, bordering Haryana.

Local farmer leaders have also been approached in this regard, he added. In Jhansi, farmers held protests in Mauranipur and Moth tehsils, where they accused the government of working against their interests. Kamlesh Lambardar, the Jhansi district president of BKU said they handed over a memorandum to the block development officer. The memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanded an immediate release of farmers arrested during the agitation and rollback of the “anti-farmer laws”.

The agitation continued for over two hours here, officials said. In Jalaun, farmers blocked Jhansi-Mirzapur highway but the police later managed to restore the traffic there. Near Delhi, hundreds of western UP farmers belonging to Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat and Gautam Buddh Nagar reached the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Greater Noida on Friday and headed to the national capital in response to a “Delhi Chalo” after a brief halt there.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)