Chandigarh, February 21: A 24-year old farmer died of head injury while over 26 others were hurt amid violent conflicts between the protesting farmers and Haryana police as the latter rained teargas shells and rubber bullets to thwart the farmers trying to move forward with their ``Delhi Chalo’’ march at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders of Haryana and Punjab, on Wednesday.
Though there was a lull in the forenoon at the two Haryana borders after the farm leaders including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal asked the farmers to exercise restrain following the Union minister of state for agriculture and farmers’ welfare Arjun Munda’s offer for another round of talks with them on their demands - mainly MSP for crops and loan waiver, conflicts ensued when a large number of farmers still attempted to move forward.
Situation Tense At Shambhu And Khanauri Borders:
As the Haryana police fired several rounds of teargas shells and rubber bullets on the farmers attempting to move ahead, the situation remained tense later in the day at Shambhu border on the Patiala-Ambala highway (NH 44) and Khanauri border on the Sangrur-Jind (NH 52), leaving one dead and many hurt on both sides.
Notably, it was the first casualty due to the farmer-police violent clash as one Shubhkaran Singh, 24, who died of his head injuries at Khanauri border.
A resident of village Baloke of Bathinda district of Punjab, Subhkaran was rushed to Patiala’s Rajindra Hospital after getting hit in the head, where he succumbed to his injuries. While a report said he was hit by rubber bullets, some reports said he was hit by a teargas shell in the head.
For the record, it was the seventh casualty reported during the farmers’ stir so far. While three farmers had died of heart attack during the stir earlier, it was the first casualty due to direct violent conflict with police.
Haryana Police SI Dies On Duty:
However, the Haryana police took to X to deny any such incident, and held that yet another Haryana police sub-inspector Vijay Kumar had died late Tuesday night due to deteriorating health problems at Tohana border while on duty. He was the third Haryana police personnel to have lost his life in line of duty - the other two being Hira Lal and Kaushal Kumar.
The statement added that about a dozen police personnel sustained serious injuries at Khanauri border after the protesters gheraoed them after burning heaps of chilly powder around them and attacked with sharp-edged weapons.
Road Jams Announced To Protest Farmer's Death
Meanwhile, the BKU (Charuni) of Haryana, led by Gurnam Singh Charuni took a serious note of this young farmer’s death and announced two-hour road jams in the state on Thursday from noon onwards. Meanwhile, farm leader Pandher later said that it had now been decided to discuss all the issues afresh for next two days in view of the Centre’s offer for talks and that the farmers would not move forward till then.
In another related development, the Punjab and Haryana High Court which was hearing a plea against highways’ blockade by Haryana, on Wednesday refused to take up the matter of the Haryana government which sought an immediate hearing in the case saying that the Punjab was not impounding the vehicles and was allowing the farmers and others to assemble at one place in large numbers which could create tense situation.
