Chandigarh: The second crucial meeting between the three Union ministers and farmer unions would be held here on Monday evening to discuss the latter's demands a day before their proposed 'Delhi Chalo' march.
The Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai had held their first meeting with the leaders of various farmer unions in Chandigarh on February 8 in which their various demands including legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) for crops were also discussed at length, though without much headway.
The Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee leader Sarvan Singh Pandher told newspersons that it was the second time that the farmers had been invited for talks on their demands ahead of their February 13 'Delhi Chalo' march and that their proposed march still stood.
Pandher, however, flayed various steps taken by the Haryana government, including suspension of internet services in seven districts, to thwart their march to Delhi.
Internet suspended in seven districts
Meanwhile, even as the farmers unions geared up for their February 13 'Delhi Chalo' tractor march to press for their various demands, the Punjab and Haryana had on Saturday swung into action taking measures to thwart them from reaching the national capital.
Besides making arrangements to block the farmers’ (tractor) march at the Punjab’s borders with Haryana, the police of the two states have also already begun the diversions on different points.
Also, Haryana government had also suspended the internet services in seven districts till February 13 midnight. These districts are Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa.
The police of the two states have also begun installing cement blocks at Shambhu barrier on the GT road on the Patiala-Ambala border, besides diverting the traffic on the said national highway since Saturday also making similar measures on the national highways or state highways in the districts of Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Fatehabad and Sirsa which border Punjab.
According to official information, 50 companies of the paramilitary forces had already been deployed at different points in Haryana to thwart the farmers’ proposed tractor march on February 13.
Section 144 of the CrPC in 15 districts of state
Meanwhile, the Haryana government on Sunday, also imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in 15 districts of Haryana thus prohibiting assembly of four or more people or protests or demonstration of any type by way of tractor trolleys or any march on February 13. An official release also said that the state police social media monitoring cell was also keeping a strict vigil over the content on social media in the context and anyone flouting the norms would be dealt sternly with.
