More farmers from Punjab head for Delhi to join tractor parade

More batches of farmers from Punjab on Sunday set out for Delhi to participate in the proposed tractor parade on January 26.

Farmer unions protesting the Centre's three farm laws had said they would go ahead with their tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day.

They had announced to take out the tractor parade on the Outer Ring Road in Delhi.

A batch of 500 tractors-trolleys left Amritsar and several groups of growers from Phagwara, Hoshiarpur and other places of Punjab moved towards the national capital to take part of the tractor parade, farmer leaders said.

Kisan Sangharsh Union leader Baldev Singh Verka in Amritsar said, "Today as many as 500 more tractor trolleys left for Delhi to join the tractor parade.

"Each tractor-trolley will carry 20 persons along with bedding and eating arrangement for fourteen hour-long journey to Delhi".

He said on Saturday, around seven hundred tractor trolleys had left for Delhi.

Gurbachan Singh Chabba, spokesperson of the Kisan Sangarsh Committee said so far, around 12,000 tractor and trolleys had already left Amritsar and Tarn districts.

While most of the tractor convoys from Doaba region had left for Delhi on Friday and Saturday, many left on Sunday also to take part in the tractor parade, said Satnam Singh Sahni, General Secretary Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba).

Sahni, who returned here from Delhi's Singhu border on Saturday night to further mobilize farmers for the parade, said a total of around 10,000 tractors from Doaba region would join the parade to highlight agitating farmers' demands and the "stubborn" attitude of the central government towards them.

"It will also be a show of strength by farmers and farm workers," said Sahni.

During the journey till Delhi borders, arrangements for 'langar' have been made at several places on the national highway, farmer leaders said.

A sea of tractors could be seen on the highway as they carried the tricolour and flag of farmers' unions.

Thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been camping at Delhi's borders for several weeks, demanding the repeal of the farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for crops.

They claim the new laws will weaken the MSP system. But the Centre says the MSP system will remain and the new laws only provide more options for farmers to sell their produce.