- Farmers have no access to clean water or sanitation in the borders of Delhi.
- Government defends Police on violent action.
- Haryana extends mobile internet curb till Wednesday
TAD NewsDesk, New Delhi: The Centre defended the Police on their action on 26th January to use tear gas, water cannon and mild force. The Union Ministry has also reported to the Parliament about 39 cases against the farmers protesting to repeal the three Centre farm laws on the outskirts of Delhi since September to December 2020.
G Kishan Reddy, minister of state for home affairs said
“As regards the use of tear gas and resorting to Lathi charge against protesting farmers by the Delhi Police, it has been reported by Delhi Police that at Delhi border, large convoys of protesting farmers in tractor trolleys tried to furiously force their way and go past Police barricades to enter Delhi to mark their protest against the recently enacted ‘Farm Laws’.”
He added,
“They aggressively resorted to rioting, damage to Government property and used criminal force to deter public servants from the discharge of their duty, thereby inflicting injuries to the on-duty police personnel. Moreover, social distancing was not followed by the farmers/protestors and they gathered in large numbers without face masks amid Covid-19 pandemic. The farmers’ actions left the Delhi Police with no option but to use tear gas, water cannons and mild force to control the crowd.”
The farmers have been camping at Delhi borders since a long time and recently the Police have A four-to-five-feet wide concrete wall – built by Delhi Police – now runs across the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway. Behind this wall are five layers of barricades in a zone of about 1.5km, denying the farmers access to two dozen mobile toilet vans and Delhi Jal Board water tankers.
Now with very limited sanitation facilities available and very low amounts of mobile toilets, people are also defecating in the open and women are particularly affected by this.
The farmers believe that the fortification has been created not to cease the movement of the protesting group of farmers to Delhi but to stop any kind of support and help that would benefit them to sustain for more time in the borders from Delhi.
For water, some farmers are relying on RO water plants set up by Khalsa Aid to fill 20-litre jerry cans for the tents. Many establishments along the highway are also helping them with water.
With the ongoing problems and the constant clashes between the Police and the farmers, the Haryana government on Tuesday further extended the suspension of mobile Internet services till 5 pm on February 3 in seven districts of the state amid a protest by farmers against the Centre’s three farm laws.
The situation is still very intense with the farmers and the police after the 26th January violent clashes and situation is yet to settle.
Source: Times of India
