Chandigarh: Farmer leaders on Friday said they will decide their next course of action on their 'Delhi Chalo' call on February 29, and announced a candle march on Saturday and burning of Centre's effigies two days later.
A decision to this effect was taken Friday evening by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), which are spearheading the ongoing agitation at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Haryana and Punjab over various demands including a legal guarantee for MSP.
"The next announcement about the agitation will be made on February 29," KMM leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told the media at the Khanauri border point.
He also announced they will hold a candle march on February 24 and will burn the effigies of the Centre on February 26.
Farmers leaders on Wednesday put the 'Delhi Chalo' march on hold for two days after a protester was killed and about 12 police personnel were injured in clashes at Khanauri.
The incident took place when some protesting farmers were trying to head towards barricades.
Haryana withdraws NSA order
As fresh clashes broke out, the Haryana Police on Friday used tear gas to disperse protesting farmers heading towards Khanauri on Punjab's border with the state. The Haryana Police also said it is withdrawing its earlier decision to invoke provisions of the National Security Act (NSA) against some farmer leaders who are a part of the ongoing farmers' agitation.
The protesting farmers asserted that cremation of Shubhkaran Singh, who died on Wednesday, will not take place till the Punjab government registers a case against those responsible for it. Amid the standoff, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced compensation for Singh who died at the Khanauri border.
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court alleging violation of the rights of the "peacefully protesting" farmers by the Centre and some states.
The plea claimed that the Centre and some states have issued "threats" and fortified the national capital's borders, after several farmer unions called protests.
In a related development, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced waiver of interest and penalty on certain crop loans and did not hike taxes as he presented a Rs 1.89-lakh crore budget for the 2024-25 financial year
Thousands of farmers have stayed put at Khanauri and Shambhu with their tractor-trolleys and trucks agitating for their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops and farm debt waiver.
The Punjab farmers are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "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.
