#Bharat Bandh : Farmers Block National Highways, Squat On Railway Tracks, Gurugram-Delhi Border Eases After Massive Jam

Picture : Twitter / ANI

To mark a year of the Centre’s three farm laws, famers early on Monday began a “Bharat Bhandh”, following a nationwide call by farmer unions demanding scrapping of the legislations.

Hundreds of farmers gathered at various places across the country blocking national highways, including those connecting Delhi to Punjab and Haryana, squatting on railway tracks and roads leading to traffic diversions and disruptions in vehicular movement. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of the farmer unions, had called for a “Bharat Bandh” till 4 pm today.

National and state highways in several districts, including Amritsar, Rupnagar, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Sangrur, Mohali, Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Bathinda, were blocked by the protesters. In neighbouring Haryana, the protesters blocked highways in Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Hisar, Charkhi Dadri, Karnal, Kaithal, Rohtak, Jhajjar and Panchkula districts. The protesting farmers squatted on railway tracks at many places in the two states.

Heavy police presence was seen, especially in Haryana and Punjab, to maintain law and order.

With farmers blocking national highways and major link roads in both Punjab and Haryana, police have diverted the traffic at several places.

Delhi Traffic Police has said the vehicular movement has been closed from Uttar Pradesh towards Ghazipur.

Gurugram saw major traffic congestion due to the heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces. But soon the situation became normal . In view of Bharath Bandh, we barricaded the Rajokri border (Delhi-Gurugram) which resulted in a traffic jam at this section. Now, the situation is normal and traffic is smooth as we loosened the barricades, Ingit Pratap Singh, DCP South West to ANI

The traffic movement at the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway (Delhi-Noida border) is relatively normal.

Delhi-Amritsar National Highway has been blocked at Shahabad in Haryana’s Kurukshetra.

The National Highway 44 in Haryana have also been blocked.

On the Tikri boder, farmers sat on the railway tracks at Bahadurgarh railway station.

Rail operations in Delhi, Ambala and Firozepur divisions were impacted with people sitting on tracks.

More than 20 railway tracks in Delhi were blocked by protesting farmers. Over 20 trains in the Ambala and Firozepur division have been affected, according to Northern Railway.

Farmers have also blocked the Shambhu border on the Punjab-Haryana border.

“In view of the Bharat bandh call by protesting farmers, we have blocked the Shambhu border till 4 pm,” a protesting farmer said.

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait has urged people to come out of their houses after lunchtime and appealed to the shopkeepers to keep their shops closed for now and open only after 4 pm.