NEW DELHI, Jan 24: Averting a head-on collision with the agitating farmers, the Delhi police finally on Sunday evening confirmed having given official permission to the agriculturists to stage the tractor rally on the Republic Day “but under a strict vigil of the police.”
Addressing a media conference after a round of meeting with the farm leaders, Delhi Special Commissioner of Police Intelligence, Deependra Pathak stated that after several meetings with farmer unions, Delhi Police has come to an “in-principle understanding with them regarding the tractor rally on Republic day.” The tractor rally will begin after the official Republic Day parade ends on Rajpath.
Pathak said farmers would not be allowed to enter central Delhi and their presence would be restricted to areas near the city border. Thus, “three circular routes from Ghazipur, Singhu, and Tikri borders have been proposed by the Delhi Police. Farmers will be able to take a circular route from the three entry points into the city, which will be approximately 60 kilometres each,” he said.
“There will be high level of security for the rally to ensure that no anti-social elements breach upon the peaceful nature of the protests,” he assured.
“We will work together with the farmers to create a secure environment for the rally. We have faith and trust that the farmers will exit the route from where they entered and will not try to create any confusion within the Capital,” Pathak said.
“There is a threat perception that some Pakistan-based extremist terror groups are trying to create problems during the farmer rally. We have identified and blocked 308 Pakistan-based Twitter handles after doing a professional analysis on social media over the past few days. Over 100km of the route permitted is within the limits of the National Capital,” he added.
Authorities estimate that around 12,000-13,000 tractors are present right now at Delhi’s borders and they anticipate the numbers to go up in a short span of time. The farmers’ leaders had earlier claimed that about one lakh tractors, 30 per cent of which would carry tableaux, would be participating in the rally.
(Manas Dasgupta)