Farmers' protest: Police stopped DJB's water tankers from reaching ryots, says Jain

NEW DELHI: Water Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday claimed that the Delhi Police prevented him and DJB vice-chairman Raghav Chadha from supplying drinking water to farmers protesting at the Singhu border.

Jain and Chadha reached the Singhu border with 12 water tankers around 11:30 am. However, police personnel stopped them from going towards the protest site.

"We had come to make arrangements for drinking water and toilet facilities for the farmers.

The police prevented the DJB's water tankers from reaching the farmers," Jain told reporters.

"The police personnel present on the spot said they had been ordered not to allow water tankers to reach farmers.

The BJP government in the Centre has denied this basic facility to our farmers," he alleged. Chadha said the "farmers are not terrorists" and appealed to the BJP government to treat them with respect.

The BJP government is preventing the farmers from accessing basic facilities such as drinking water, toilets and langar (community kitchen), he claimed.

"The Delhi Police should show us the order based on which they prevented the water tankers from reaching the farmers," he said, adding that authorities have also stopped AAP's langar service at the Singhu border.

The police on Thursday intensified barricading, completing shutting small passages being used by farmers to travel to the Delhi side on foot, and deployed more personnel at the protest site.

The development came after around 400 police personnel were injured during the farmers' tractor parade on Republic Day.

A total of 33 FIRs have been registered in connection with the violence during the rally. On Thursday, the Delhi Police issued 44 lookout notices to protesters and farmer leaders named in an FIR.