GHAZIABAD: To mark seven months of protests against the three contentious agricultural bills and to exert pressure on the government, farmers have planned another ‘tractor rally’ on June 26.
As per their plan, hundreds of tractors from BKU’s headquarters Sisauli have started for UP Gate and will reach Ghaziabad on Saturday.
Protesting farmers along the route will join in, with their tractors.
Gaurav Tikait, BKU leader, said, “It was decided at a recently held meeting at the BKU headquarters in Sisauli that farmers from western UP districts will assemble at UP Gate on June 26 to mark seven months of protests against the three controversial laws.
The farmers have been instructed to come in their tractors in the form of a ‘tractor rally’.” The tractor rally is seen as a new attempt to provide fresh impetus to farm protests at Delhi’s border, including at UP Gate.
“The farmers from Saharanpur, in fact, already embarked on their journey to UP Gate on Thursday, and will be joined by farmers from other villages.
By June 25 afternoon, they are expected to reach UP Gate to lend support to the protest.
The farmers on the way to UP Gate through the national highway have been instructed not to disrupt the traffic and maintain discipline,” Tikait said.
The tractor rally is expected to take the national highway route and the district administration is gearing up for the event.
“We have been shared with the details of the protest plan and accordingly we will ensure that disruption is not caused and we have also been assured by farmer leaders that the protest will go on in a peaceful manner,” said an official from the district administration.
Meanwhile, alarmed at depleting protesters at the protest sites, BKU has devised a formula under which a roster has been prepared.
“Ten specific days in a month have been chosen and on each specified day, farmers from a particular district have been asked to come to UP Gate,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a member of the UP Gate protest site committee.