Farmers Get LG Nod To Protest At Jantar Mantar From Today

Max 200 Agitators Allowed 6 Hours Daily For 19 Days

- Sakshi Chand

New Delhi: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has permitted protesting farmers to hold what they call the Kisan Sansad at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the city from Thursday till August 9.

Before Delhi police commissioner Balaji Srivastava visited the city’s traditional protest space Wednesday to take stock of the situation, several layers of barricades had already been erected and paramilitary personnel deployed there.

Security cameras at Jantar Mantar, close to Parliament House, have been inspected to ensure cops can monitor the situation. The protesters will be taken to the site in buses with police escorts. Strict observance of Covid-appropriate behaviour is to be enforced.

The approval for the extension of the farmers’ protest from the border sites was given by the LG and DDMA chairperson Anil Baijal.

DDMA has allowed a maximum of 200 protesters bearing identity cards at Jantar Mantar each day between 11am and 5pm. Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organisation of farmers’ bodies, said the list of the 200 would be shared with police each day in order to avoid a repeat of the violence that broke out this January 26 when the agitating farmers had entered Delhi from their sit-in locations on the borders.