Farmers protest: 250 km long tractor march on Republic Day; check traffic, security details

This Republic Day, the national capital will witness a massive tractor rally led by farmers with the Delhi Police granting the farmers' union permission to carry out a peaceful tractor march on Tuesday.

Hundreds of farmers from Haryana, Punjab, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will join the tractor parade, which will be held from Delhi's three border points -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.

The tractor rally will be 250 kilometres long with the rally at Ghazipur being 50 kms, 100 kilometers long at Singhu border and 125 kilometers long at the Tikri border, as per officials.

"The rally will start at 11 am after an 'ardas' (prayer)," said Jitendra Singh Jitu, spokesperson for farmers.

Farmers' unions have beefed up security by deploying a private agency to keep the security arrangements in check during the rally. There will be more CCTV cameras, and the number of volunteers has also been increased. The volunteers have been given badges and identity cards.

A war room has been set up at each protest site to ensure effective coordination during the parade. There will be 40 members, including doctors, security personnel and social media managers, in each of these rooms.

Around 40 ambulances will be stationed along the route to attend to any medical emergency, reported news agency PTI.

Samyukt Kisan Morcha has come up with some unanimously agreed instructions for the parade and has also issued helpline number 7428384230.

"Never before in history have the people of this Republic been part of a parade of this nature on Republic Day. Through this parade, we have to tell the country and the world about our plight. We have to bring forth the truth about the three Anti-Farmer Laws. We've to take care that this historical parade is not stained at any cost," said an official statement from Sanyukt Kisaan Morcha (SKM).

"We have reached an agreement that the farmers' rally takes place peacefully and with rules in place. Barricades will be removed from Tikri border and a route of 52-63 km will be opened, a route of another 60 km will be cleared from Singhu border and a route of 46 km will be opened from Ghazipur border," Special CP Dependra Pathak told media outlets on Sunday. The parade will cover more than 100 km inside Delhi's borders.

The Haryana Police said there would be disruptions in vehicular movement on the national highway from Karnal and Rohtak towards Delhi between January 25-27.

Authorities have asked to avoid unnecessary travel.

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