New Delhi: A group of farmers vacated a part of the carriageways on the Chilla border leading to the Noida-Delhi Link Road after a “successful meeting” with Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Narendra Singh Tomar Saturday evening.
A key road connecting Noida to Delhi, which had been blocked since 1 December due to the farmers’ protest, reopened late Saturday night, officials confirmed.
However, the full carriageway was not made operational as more than 250 farmers are still at the border.
The meeting Saturday, chaired by Singh and Tomar, was attended by five members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Bhanu) and went on for over an hour.
“The farmers were asked to share their concerns in detail. They were told that they should be patient with these reforms and at least give it some time. In case they face any difficulties, the government will always be there to resolve their problems,” a government official privy to the details of the meeting told ThePrint.
“The farmers agreed to open the Chilla border as it was causing a lot of inconvenience to the general public. They understand that this is the most defining reform in the agricultural structure but just need a little bit of convincing. The government has been talking to them in detail in batches and hopes to resolve it soon,” the official added.
Through the mounting farmers agitation, Singh, a former agriculture minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet who prides himself as a farmer’s son, has emerged as a key firefighter, working mostly behind the scene.
Singh along with senior party leaders has been chalking out the government’s strategy vis-a-vis the farmers.
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‘Protest is not over’
While the Delhi Police said the farmers performed a puja and then shifted from Chilla border, V.C. Pradhan from BKU (Bhanu) said that the farmers had just opened a part of the carriageway as they did not want to cause inconvenience to the public.
“We have not moved from the border. We have just cleared a part of the carriageway so that vehicles can pass. We are not going anywhere, the protest is not over,” Pradhan said.
He added: “We spoke to the two ministers in detail and kept our demands. They heard us out and promised that they will convey the same to the Prime Minister. They also assured a meeting with the PM. Moreover, they requested that we clear the borders for the sake of the people. That is when we agreed to clear a part of it.”
When asked if the group was moving away from the border, Pradhan said, “We are not going anywhere. We have Ramayan path going on here and there are over 250 farmers still here.”
“Our chief Thakur Bhanu Pratap Singh, too us staying put at Chilla,” he said.
Following the development, the movement on the DND and the Kalindi Kunj routes, both connecting Delhi and Noida, also resumed. Traffic, however, remained heavy.
“The farmers have vacated some space for vehicles to pass. In the carriageway where three vehicles could pass, space for two vehicles has been vacated. But they have not completely cleared the path,” a senior police officer told ThePrint.
“Vehicles coming from Noida to Delhi or vice versa are now moving, but traffic is heavy as the entire carriageway is still not free for movement. The farmers had said that they will vacate the border area once their Ramayan path is over, but it does not appear that they will move. A part of the border is still occupied” he added
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‘Government’s stooges’
Speaking to ThePrint, General Secretary of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) Sukhdev Kokari accused BKU (Bhanu) of being “government stooges”
“They are not a part of us. That group has been planted by the government and that is why they took this decision. They are not even a part of our struggle, our protest. We are not going to budge and this decision was taken by them unilaterally,” Kokari said.
“We have over 1.5 lakh people sitting at Tikri border, out of which 25,000 are women. No one has moved an inch since this began and no one will till our demands are met. Groups like BKU (Bhanu) are betraying the farmer brother,” he said.
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