Second day of farmers' protests: severe traffic congestion around Delhi's borders

Second day of farmers' protests: severe traffic congestion around Delhi's borders

Farmers' March: Last night, the protesting farmers declared a "ceasefire" and said they will "try again" today.

After a night of rest, the farmers who are protesting will shortly start walking towards Delhi again. There will be a renewed attempt to counter the extensive security deployment in order to deliver their list of demands to the capital.

These are the main takeaways from this significant story:

The farmers who were protesting had declared a "ceasefire" and said they would "try again" today. Fearing that farmers could attempt to breach the barriers today, prohibitive measures have been put in place and strong security personnel have been sent in.

On Tuesday, scenes from the 2020–21 demonstrations came to mind, when farmers were prevented from crossing the Punjab–Haryana border by the deployment of water cannons and tear gas. The demonstrations that blocked Delhi's borders three years before continued for thirteen months.

Farmers claim they have enough fuel to go to Delhi and ration for six months, so they are ready for the arduous voyage. Even if it took many months, one farmer told NDTV they would not come back until their demands were satisfied.

A set of demands is the cause of the protests by farmers. With the exception of three key demands—a farm debt waiver, a legislation on MSP, and the execution of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendation—the government has complied with the majority of their requests.

Yesterday, the administration issued a plea for more negotiations to break the deadlock, but farmers claim the discussions are pointless and that they have no intention of granting their demands.

Yesterday, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that the reason negotiations are taking so long is because farmers are presenting more demands. He asked them to another round of discussions and pleaded with them to refrain from using violence and arson.

By erecting tire deflators and concrete blocks around the boundaries, police have reinforced Delhi. However, the action yesterday occurred at the Shambhu border, which separates Punjab and Haryana. This was the initial line of resistance.

The farmers' protest has once again put the Center and the Delhi government at odds. The Centre proposed turning a stadium into a "holding area" to detain migrants should they succeed in entering the city, but the Arvind Kejriwal administration rejected the idea.

For a month, public meetings are prohibited in Delhi, and crossing the border in cars is prohibited. In order to make sure that demonstrators cannot access the city, police are also inspecting every car.

Yesterday's traffic was a nightmare due to this and many adjustments at the border crossings linking Delhi with its satellite towns. Crawling traffic left commuters—mostly office workers—stranded at several city boundary locations for hours.