The national capital remained largely peaceful as the protesting farmers, who had called for Bharat Bandh on Tuesday, remained confined to their stir sites at the city borders.
However, the city witnessed sporadic incidents of blockades.
At the Ghazipur border, a large group of protesters blocked both carriageways of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway from 11 a.m. and opened them half-an-hour before the scheduled time of 3 p.m. During the protest, they allowed passage to emergency vehicles. The traffic was diverted to Anand Vihar and Sahibabad border. The one side of the carriageway (Delhi to Meerut) was opened for traffic. Farmers said they ended the protest timely without causing inconvenience to motorists during peak hours.
A small group of farmers from Shamli and Baghpat districts was on a hunger strike for the day. They had taped their mouths.
“We are protesting peacefully on Gandhigiri sidhant and we are hopeful that government will listen to our demands,” said Kishan Pal, a farmer from Baghpat.
Ghazipur vegetable market, located a kilometer from the protest site, was open.
“We stand with farmers and support their demands but we can’t shut down the wholesale market because we will incur losses. There is already a crisis situation in the market due to restriction over the movement of trucks at the borders,” said Santosh Kumar, a wholesaler.
During the shutdown, the police kept strict vigil at borders and other parts of the city.
“We used drones to keep track of protesters. We held a meeting with organisers and policemen of neighbouring districts to keep the situation under control. No calls of any scuffle were received from any of the borders and the day ended peacefully. Security was strengthened at borders and traffic personnel was deployed on diverted routes,” said a senior officer.
Impromptu blockade
Minutes before the Bharat Bandh was scheduled to end, a group of youths started raising slogans in support of farmers and created an impromptu blockade at the carriageway leading to the Haryana border next to Gurudwara Hargobindsar.
The protesters said the blockade was part of the Bharat Bandh, which was scheduled to be in effect between 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
They said they had parked their four-wheelers and motorcycles on the highway to stall traffic till 3 p.m.