Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said protesting farmers “are trying to march to Delhi like an army on the offensive”.
“The farmers are moving with tractor-trolleys, earth-movers and ration for a year — just like an army,” he told the media here.
He was responding to a question about huge build up by farmers from Punjab on Haryana borders while they were heading to the national capital to lodge their protest over unfulfilled demands, including legal guarantee of minimum support prices.
“We have an objection to their method (of moving towards Delhi,” Khattar said, adding, “We do not have any objection to them going to Delhi. There are trains, buses and their own vehicles. But a tractor is not a mode of transport. It is an agricultural machinery.”
Police have erected several layers of barricades on the Punjab-Haryana borders with tense situations and the traffic is affected.
In the past three days, police used teargas on demonstrators in a bid to stop farmers’ protests from reaching the national capital.
Scores of policemen and farmers got injuries in stone pelting that ensued between them.
The farmers — representing over 200 farmer unions — are adamant on heading to the national capital to lodge their protest over unfulfilled demands, including legal guarantee of minimum support prices (MSP) of crops, waiver of farm loans and criminal cases against those protesting farm laws be dropped.
(IANS)
