Finance
By: Shree1news, 01 JAN 2021
Thousands of farmers stayed put at their protest venues close to Delhi’s border on Friday, braving a extreme chill because the mercury dipped to 1.1 degrees Celsius on the New Year’s Day, the lowest in 15 years, as talks with the government made little headway.
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, however the two sides remained deadlocked over the main contentious problems with 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 1000’s of farmers protesting on Delhi borders, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had stated no less than 50 per cent resolution has been reached with mutual agreement on two out of four items on the agenda and discussions would proceed on the remaining two on January 4.
Security remained tight at the national capital’s borders with hundreds of personnel deployed at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri border points, where the farmers have been camping for more than a month now.
The protests have also led to traffic congestions, forcing the police to divert vehicular movement.
Taking to Twitter on Friday, the Delhi Traffic Police alerted commuters concerning the routes that remained closed owing to the agitation and urged them to take different roads.
“Tikri, Dhansa Borders are closed for any Traffic Movement. Jhatikara Borders is open only for LMV (Cars/ Light Motor Vehicles), two wheelers and pedestrian movement,” it tweeted.
“The Chilla and Ghazipur Borders are closed for traffic coming from Noida & Ghaziabad to Delhi due to farmer protests. Please take alternate route for coming to Delhi through Anand Vihar, DND, Apsara, Bhopra & Loni Borders.
“Singhu, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Saboli & Mangesh borders closed. Please take alternate route through Lampur Safiabad, Palla & Singhu school toll tax borders.Traffic has been diverted from Mukarba and GTK road. Please avoid Outer Ring Road, GTK Road & NH-44,” it stated in a series of tweets.
“Available Open Borders to Haryana are Jharoda (Only Single Carriageway/Road), Daurala, Kapashera, Badusarai, Rajokri NH-8, Bijwasan/Bajghera, Palam Vihar and Dundahera Borders,” the Delhi Traffic Police stated in one other tweet.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the central government as main reforms within the agriculture sector that will take away the middleman and allow farmers to sell their produce anyplace within the nation.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
The government has repeatedly asserted that the MSP and mandi systems will keep and has accused the Opposition of misleading the farmers.
Source:PTI
