Withdraw JCB machines, else action to be taken: Haryana Police to excavator owners

PTI, Feb 21, 2024, 11:10 AM IST

PTI photo

The Haryana Police on Wednesday asked owners of excavators to withdraw their machines from the protest site, where farmers are set to resume their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, else they will be held liable for action.

According to police, these excavators might cause harm to security personnel deployed at the two border points of Punjab and Haryana if protesting farmers used them.

”For owners and operators of Poclains,JCBs: Please do not provide your equipment to the protestors and withdraw them from the protest site if already done, as they may be used to cause harm to security forces. It is a non-bailable offence and you may be held criminally liable,” said police in a post on X.

Farmers, protesting at the two border points of Punjab and Haryana, will resume their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on Wednesday after they rejected the BJP-led Centre’s proposal for procuring pulses, maize and cotton at the MSP by government agencies for five years.

The Haryana Police on Tuesday urged its Punjab counterparts to seize bulldozers and other earthmoving equipment from the interstate border which they say protesters will use to break barricades.

These could pose a threat to the security forces deployed at the border, Haryana Director General of Police Shatrujeet Kapoor said in an urgent communication to his Punjab counterpart Gaurav Yadav.

Later, in a communication to senior police officers, the Punjab DGP said that no JCBs and other heavy earthmoving equipment should be allowed to reach Khanauri and Shambu border points as inputs indicate that the protesters plan to break barricades and enter Haryana.

”It is reliably learnt that heavy earthmoving equipment, including poclain (digger), JCB etc, that have been further modified/armour-plated have been acquired by protesting farmers and have been deployed at the border locations where the protesters are camping right now,” the letter written by the Haryana DGP stated.

”These machines are meant to be used by the protesters to damage the barricades thereby posing serious danger to the police and paramilitary forces deployed on duty and are likely to compromise the security scenario in Haryana,” it said.

”In view of this, you are requested to take all necessary steps to immediately seize these machines from the protesting sites at the borders and take all preventive steps so that the poclain/JCB machines and other heavy machinery which may cause harm to security forces are not allowed to reach the protesting sites,” it added.

Thousands of farmers, who began the march to Delhi on February 13, were stopped at the Haryana border itself, where they clashed with security personnel. The farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri points on Punjab’s border with Haryana since then.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press the government to accept their demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP for crops and a farm loan waiver.

The last round of talks between farmers and the government ended past midnight on Sunday when a panel of ministers proposed buying five crops — moong dal, urad dal, tur dal, maize and cotton — from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) for five years through central agencies.