Back to farms: Farmers in Delhi leave for home after year-long protest

New Delhi: Farmers, who were protesting against the contentious farm laws which were recently repealed, will vacate Delhi and return home on Saturday.

The farmers lifted blockades on highways at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders and took out a 'Victory March' to celebrate the repeal of three contentious farm laws and the Centre's written assurance to fulfil their other demands, including constituting a committee for legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

The Delhi Police will remove the multiple layers of barricades at the three farmers' protest sites in a phased manner to facilitate the movement of the protesters.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 40 farm unions, had on Thursday decided to suspend the movement against the farm laws and announced that farmers camping at three border points of Delhi -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur -- will go back home.

The announcement came after the SKM, which is spearheading the movement, received a central government signed letter wherein it agreed to consider farmers'' pending demands, including the withdrawal of cases against farmers and to form a committee on minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

According to the Delhi Police, security has been tightened at the protest sites in a bid to keep a watch on the movement of farmers.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North) Bijendra Kumar Yadav said farmers have formally declared that they will start returning home from Saturday onwards, but it is not a time bound exercise as their movement will keep progressing through the day.

"Based on the movement of a sizeable number of farmers, multiple types of barricades, including the cemented jerseys, will be simultaneously removed. The police will also start de-barricading in a processed manner," he said.

The temporary structures made to house police personnel will also be removed eventually, officials said.

At the Tikri border in outer Delhi, barricades put up at one side of the carriageway on Rohtak Road were removed in October to allow the movement of traffic, a senior officer said.

On the other side of the carriageway where the farmers were agitating, the temporary accommodations are being dismantled by the protesters as they prepare to return home, he added.

At the anti-farm laws protest site at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, the Delhi Police had in October removed the barricades and concertina wires.

Multiple layers of iron and cement barricades and at least five layers of concertina wires were put up last year. The blockade was further strengthened after the January 26 violence in several parts of the national capital during the farmers' tractor rally.

Return journey begins a day early

Large parts of the Singhu border protest site lay vacant on Friday after a number of farmers bundled up their belongings and headed home on tractors, while others worked long hours to dismantle the makeshift accommodations they built painstakingly over the last year.

Tractors bedecked with colourful lights rolled out of the protest site blaring songs of victory. The elderly flaunted their colourful turbans and danced with the youngsters.

Ladders, tarpaulin, poles and ropes lay scattered at the once-buzzing protest site, while blankets, pillows, mattresses and chairs were neatly stacked on the roadside.

Harjot Singh from Punjab's Barnala said people who had little luggage left for home on Thursday evening.

"Some are leaving today. Those who built large structures and had more goods will depart tomorrow," he said before breaking into a Punjabi song as tractors passed by.

The movement of tractors in large numbers led to a heavy traffic jam, similar to the initial days of the protest when protesters poured in from different states.

The young and the elderly worked together to dismantle the sturdy temporary structures erected by them on the long dusty stretch of the Delhi-Karnal road.

Time and again, they chanted 'Bole So Nihaal' to pump themselves up.

As the men bundled up the clothes and mattresses and swiftly loaded them onto the trucks, women prepared lunch and tea.

Cardboard, thermocol, iron wire mesh, PVC sheets and mosquito nets lay around the dismantled structures.

The youngsters inspected the tractors, cleaned the trolleys in preparation for the journey back home.

They stop to have lunch, or tea, or a snack and return to work.

Some farmers even donated their belongings to the needy in nearby villages.

"We have a lot of clothes and ration that could be of use to them. Earlier we were also feeding a lot of people from neighbouring areas," said Surjeet Singh, 64, from Punjab's Hoshiarpur.

Before setting out for their respective places, farmers clicked group pictures and shook a leg together one last time.

Many volunteers, however, won't be leaving on Saturday.

"We have decided to stay back for some time to lend a hand to farmers who may need help in dismantling their tents and packing up belongings," said Jasveer Singh, who managed the 'Jangi Kitaab Ghar' library here.

Bakshish (30), who managed the 10-bed Kisan Mazdoor Ekta Hospital, said he will start packing up only after everyone has left.

"There should be someone to cater to medical emergencies," he said.

(With PTI inputs.)