15,000 Farmers Expected To March To Delhi Border On 5 May Amid Covid-19 Second Wave

Ten to Fifteen thousands of agitating farmers are readying up to march to Delhi in the coming days, as per a report published in The Hindu.

The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee KMSC, have announced that the groups of farmers and farm labourers from several parts of the state will start moving in the coming days towards Delhi so that the number of protesters at the agitation sites keeps growing.

“On 5 May, at least one thousand tractor-trolleys and other vehicles will start their march from Amritsar district alone to Delhi. We are expecting 10,000-15,000 people to part of our latest batch, which will go to Singhu-Kundli border. Since the agitation started on Delhi borders, this is our twelfth big batch that would be going. Smaller number of farmer batches keep continuously going and come back from Delhi borders on routine basis from many villages as well,” KMSC general secretary Sarvan Singh Pandher said to reporters.

Sukhdev Singh, general secretary of the BKU (U), said that discussions were going on regarding the protest strategy. “After holding discussions with farmers, which will continue till May 10, we will be sending a contingent of people from the State to Delhi border. We are mobilising people to strengthen the Delhi ‘morcha’ (front). We are continuously holding activities to mobilise people to go to Delhi as well as to strengthen the ongoing ‘morchas’ in Punjab as well,” he said.

“On 21 April, a contingent of around 18,000 farmers had left for Delhi. Now again we are preparing to send a large number of people to Delhi ‘morchas’,” Singh added.

Punjab reported 6,798 fresh COVID-19 cases, 6,016 discharges, and 157 deaths on Monday, 3 May, taking active cases to 60,709.