New Delhi:
Mobile internet and sending of bulk messages have been suspended – till December 9 – in parts of Haryana’s Ambala district, minutes before a farmers group – gathered under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) – began yet another ‘Dilli chalo‘ march.
The order, signed by the Additional Chief Secretary to the Home Department, cited “an apprehension of causing tension, annoyance, agitation, and damage of public and private property”.
There is “a clear potential… of misuse of internet services by way of spread of inflammatory material and false rumours, which are being/could be transmitted/circulated to the public…”
Mobile internet and associated services have therefore been cut in Dangdehri, Lohgarh, Manakpur, Dadiyana, Bari Ghel, Lharsa, Kalu Majra, Devi Nagar, Saddopur, Sultanpur, and Kakru villages.
District officials have already issued orders banning gatherings of five or more people, and also ordered both government-run and private schools to shut for the day.
The police have also tightened security on the Ambala-Delhi border, complete with now-traditional multi-layered barricades on National Highway 44. Water cannons have also been deployed.
“We have made adequate security arrangements (and) have appealed to the farmers to maintain the peace. They have been told to obtain permission from Delhi Police (and) we will allow them to proceed only if they have this permission,” Ambala Police Superintendent Surinder Singh Bhoria said.
Over 100 farmers are to begin a foot march from the Shambhu border crossing at 1 pm to push for a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Prices. The demand for legal backing for MSPs is a core ask of protesting farmers nationwide and has been the bedrock of protests that began in September 2020.
In addition to legal guarantees for MSP, the farmers are also demanding wavier of debts, pension for them and their labourers, no increase in power tariffs, and the withdrawal of police cases.
They also want justice for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Farmers in this round of protests have been camping at the Shambhu border point, and the Khanauri checkpoint between Punjab and Haryana, since February 13 after an earlier march was stopped.
This will be the second time farmers have attempted to march on the national capital this week.
On Monday farmers from Uttar Pradesh tried to walk to the Parliament. They were stopped at the Delhi-Noida border but the march caused massive traffic jams on both sides.
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