A Haryana government high-powered committee on Tuesday held talks over the road blockade at Delhi's Tikri border with farmers protesting the Centre's farm laws.
The panel headed by Haryana Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajeev Arora held talks with representatives of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which is spearheading the stir, in Jhajjar's Bahadurgarh, close to the Tikri border.
Arora was accompanied by DGP P K Agrawal and other officials.
The meeting has come days after the Supreme Court said farmers protesting at Delhi borders cannot block roads indefinitely.
Arora told reporters that the main purpose of the meeting was how to open the road for smooth movement of traffic.
Replying to a question, Arora said before talking to the Delhi Police they wanted to know if all roads on the Haryana side are open.
Though the apex leadership of the SKM was not present in the meeting, it was held with representatives of the Morcha in a cordial atmosphere, he said.
A farmer leader said they conveyed in the meeting that from their side, no road has been blocked.
"The entire responsibility to open roads is on the Delhi Police as the way has been blocked towards the other side," he claimed.
"We told the Haryana government committee that we have not blocked roads," he added.
Representatives of the industry too were present in the meeting.
Speaking to reporters, an industry representative said, "The officials listened to our concerns patiently. We told them that industry is facing lot of problems due to road blockade and some have been forced to shift to other places.
The Haryana government had last month constituted the committee to hold talks with the protesting farmers for clearing the blockade at the Tikri and Kundli-Singhu borders, where farmers have been protesting against the farm laws for past 11 months.
Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij had last month said the committee had been constituted to comply with the apex court orders to open passage on the national highways leading to the national capital.
Sunday, 16 June 2024