On Friday, a severe cold wave swept through Delhi as the mercury plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in January in 15 years. Meanwhile, the bitter cold has claimed the life of a protesting farmer at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in Ghazipur.
According to an India Today report, the farmer has been identified as Galan Singh Tomar. He was a resident of Mojidabad village in Baghpat district and was present at the protest site since November. As per preliminary medical investigation, Tomar died due to cold weather. Reportedly, he was between 65 and 70 years of age.
Meanwhile, Tomar wasn't the first protesting farmer to die due to the freezing cold. Earlier, 38-year-old Bhim Singh also died due to the cold at the Singhu Border. So far, at least 20 protesters have died since the farmers' agitation against Centre's contentious three farm laws began in November.
Besides, the government and the farm unions had reached some common ground on Wednesday to resolve the protesting farmers' concerns over rise in power tariff and penalties for stubble burning, but the two sides remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP.
After the sixth round of negotiations between three union ministers and a 41-member representative group of thousands of farmers protesting on Delhi borders, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said at least 50 per cent resolution has been reached with mutual agreement on two out of four items on the agenda and discussions would continue on the remaining two on January 4.
(With PTI inputs)
