Haryana farmers' convoy leaves for Delhi to join protest at Delhi borders
Hindustan TimesDefying the Covid lockdown, thousands of farmers gathered at Haryana’s Karnal and Panipat toll plazas before leaving in a convoy for Delhi in a build up to the May 26 protest, organised to mark six months of the agitation against the three controversial farm laws enacted by the centre. HT Photo The gatherings at the two toll plazas, where many farmers were not seen wearing masks or maintaining social distance, was also aimed at dispelling the notion that their protest, which started at several points on Delhi borders in November last year, was dying out amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Farmers have been protesting at five sites in large camps near Delhi’s borders: Singhu, Ghaziabad, Tikri, Dhansa and at Shahjahanpur on the Rajasthan-Haryana border, demanding the rollback of three laws passed in September last year to lift restrictions on trade in farm produce. The continued protests have also sparked concerns of a potential spread of Covid-19 infections, but the farmers have refused to give up the agitation, citing it as a matter of livelihood Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union president Gurnam Singh Charuni led the farmers’ convoy of SUVs, cars and bikes from Karnal's Bastara toll plaza, where they had gathered since Sunday morning.