The Haryana Police on Tuesday lobbed multiple rounds of teargas shells, including through drones, at the Shambhu border near Ambala to disperse farmers marching towards Delhi to seek enactment of a law on minimum support price. The police first used teargas when farmers tried to break barricades set up at the Shambhu border and throw it off the Ghaggar river bridge.
Some of the farmers also tried to remove the cement barricades with the help of tractors. Despite an appeal by the Haryana Police to stay away from the barricades, many protesters continued to stay put and stood over the barricades, officials said.
But after an hour when a sizable number of farmers gathered near the barricades at the Shambhu border, police again hurled tear gas shells to disperse the protesters, they said. Police also fire tear gas shells after some of the protesters entered a nearby field.
A drone was also used to drop the tear gas shells and keep an eye on the protesters. Farmers were seen carrying wet jute bags to shield themselves from the effect of the smoke released from teargas shells.
Farmers demanding a law on minimum support price are marching toward Delhi after a meeting with two Union ministers over their demands remained inconclusive. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha said farmers will head to Delhi to press the Centre to accept their demands.
NCR commuters face traffic snarls
Traffic crawled at a snail's pace in Delhi-NCR on Tuesday morning as police placed multiple layers of barricades on Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders in view of the farmers' march to the national capital. Commuters had a harrowing time as they battled traffic jams, with Delhi being turned into a fortress to thwart the entry of farmers. In view of the 'Delhi Chalo' march, the police have intensified security at the city's border points with multi-layer barricades, concrete blocks, iron nails and walls of containers.
