Farmers park tractors along highways as mark of protest


The farmer unions on Monday took out tractor marches in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh by parking their tractors on the sides of highways as a mark of protest.

The call for the same was given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKU).

The farmers parked their tractors on the side of highways and demanded to exclude agriculture from the WTO agreement and implement a law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP).

The tractor march reached the Yamuna Expressway which was led by farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, who said that tractors will be parked along the highways while the traffic shall move.

The tractors will be parked on the side of the highway so that commuters can see the parked tractors and our message reaches out to them.

He said they did not have any plan to head towards Delhi, and the demands were MSP guarantee law, and the others.

In view of the march, Noida police had issued a traffic advisory urging commuters going towards Delhi to use the metro instead of taking roads.

The protests were also held and the Shambhu and Khanauri border points of the Punjab-Haryana border over the issue.

SKM had given the call of ‘Quit WTO Day’ demonstration on Monday where they would park tractors along highways, but will not obstruct movement of vehicles.

Meanwhile, the farmers have been camping at the two border points since February 13 as they had decided to move to Delhi to put up their demands before the Centre, but were stopped by the Haryana Police.

So far, four rounds of talks have taken place between the farmer unions and the central ministers with regard to the demands placed by the farmers.

Earlier, a farmer leader had said that the protest will not end unless l their demands are met.

The protesters reportedly took out a candle march at Shambhu and Khanauri borders on Saturday in the memory of a farmer who lost his life during the protest.