Farmers have stayed put at Shambhu and Khanauri points on Punjab’s border with Haryana resulting in long traffic jams and chaos.
Ambala: In a step toward maintaining peace and tranquility in the region amid the ongoing farmers’ protest, the Haryana government has extended the ban on mobile internet and bulk SMS services in seven districts by two more days until February 19. Notably, the affected districts are Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa. Also, the government had earlier extended the suspension of mobile internet to February 13 and 15, as per a report by news agency PTI.
Protesting farmers have stayed put at Shambhu and Khanauri points on Punjab’s border with Haryana for the fifth day after their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press the Centre for various demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops, was stopped by security forces, which led to clashes.
Besides a legal guarantee of MSP, the farmers are demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases, “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020–21.