According to officials, CM Manohar Lal Khattar was scheduled to inaugurate a few schemes at Thapli nature park, after inaugurating various adventurous sports activities at Tikkar Taal in Morni Hills. (PTI File) MORE THAN 70 protesting farmers were detained on Sunday when they protested the arrival of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar near Thapli in Morni Hills of Panchkula. All the farmer protesters were released late on Sunday evening.
According to sources, some of the farmers broke some of the barricades installed near a helipad where the Chief Minister was scheduled to land. Khattar was in Panchkula to inaugurate various development works related to eco-tourism, and adventure activities.
Sources said that the police detained some of the protesters from the site and moved them to the local Chandimandir police station and Sector 25 crime branch office.
Later, Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader, Gurman Singh Chaduni, condemned the police action and urged the farmers of Panchkula, Ambala to gherao the crime branch police station in Sector 25 to demand the release of their fellow protesters, following which more than 200 protesters staged a dharna.
According to officials, CM Manohar Lal Khattar was scheduled to inaugurate a few schemes at Thapli nature park, after inaugurating various adventurous sports activities at Tikkar Taal in Morni Hills. Khattar along with Vidhan Sabha speaker, Gian Chand Gupta, arrived at Tikkar Taal in a helicopter, but faced with vociferous protests from farmers, decided to alter their programme slightly before heading to Thapli.
Sources said CM Khattar decided to travel via road to a meditation-cum-study centre, Parmatma Kunj, situated at Dhar village, which is around 35km away from Tikkar Taal.
Other dignitaries, including Gian Chand Gupta, followed him in the chopper from Tikkar Taal. Sources said Khattar stayed at Parmatma Kunj for around half an hour during his unscheduled visit and then went to Thapli in the helicopter. By the time the Chief Minister landed in Thapli, some of the agitated farmers had been detained and taken to the nearby police station and the crime branch office in Sector 25.
Social Activist, Yogendra Yadav, soon reached the spot and criticised the detention of the protesting farmers.
Later, after Chaduni’s call, more than 200 farmer protesters gathered and gheroed Sector 25 crime branch in Panchkula in the late
evening. The farmers, who came in tractor trolleys, SUVs, and on two-wheelers, all hailed from nearby villages of Derabass in Mohali, Barwala, Raipurrani in Panchkula, sources said.
The protesters staged a dharna outside the crime branch office till late in the evening when the police finally released all the 75 farmers that they had detained.
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