Delhi braces for impact as farmer stir resumes today

The Capital is bracing for another round of traffic chaos amid a stand off between security personnel and protesting farmers, who have announced that they will resume their march to Delhi on Wednesday, even as tensions ran high at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana.

After failing to cross the Shambhu border due to heavy police deployment last week, the protesters brought machinery on including excavators and JCB machines. The driver cabins of the excavators and JCB machine have been modified to withstand the impact of rubber bullets and shotgun pellets. Many farmers have also prepared rudimentary anti-riot shields, and organised gas masks to blunt the impact of tear gas shells. The protesters have also readied thousands of sandbags that could be used to build makeshift motorable pathways through non-barricaded areas.

The police, on the other hand, has ramped up arrangements by deploying shipping containers loaded with heavy material to prevent them from being moved.

Thousands of farmers have been staging a sit-in protest at Shambhu since February 13 seeking several demands from the government, including minimum support prices (MSP) for 23 crops. The farmers halted their march last week while discussions were on between union leaders and the central government. But the fourth round of the talks on Sunday night could not break the deadlock.

"We are preparing merely to protect ourselves from the bullets and tear gas shells. We won't do any violence, however, we don't want to get hurt or killed. We are fully prepared to march towards Delhi," farmer leader Ramandeep Singh Mann said on Tuesday.