Thetricolour fluttered atop tractors, loud protest songs and speech blared fromthe speakers as farmers blocked the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway atHaryana's Palwal toll plaza on Saturday.
Farmersblocked the Palwal toll plaza on the six-lane expressway by squatting on theroad in the scorching heat. Security has been heightened in the area.
Palwaltoll plaza, almost 85 km from Delhi, marks the start of the 136-km expresswaywhich ends at Kundli. Farmers will block the way from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to mark100 days of protest against the Centre's three farm laws.
Theagitated farmers chanted anti-government slogans as they marched from theirprotest site, two km away from the toll plaza.
Theblockade led to disruption of traffic at the toll stations. Many commuters saidthat they did not know about the protest. Few of then were allowed to go andthe rest were turned back.
Thesix-lane KMP expressway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi onNovember 2018. It has ten tolled entry and exit points, 52 underpasses and 23overpasses.
Itwas built to decongest the ever-busy roads of Delhi, especially by reducing thenumber of trucks entering the national capital, thus helping to curb pollution.
Thefarmers' agitation against the three contentious agricultural laws, had begunon November 26. In these 100 days, the farmers have braved harsh weatherconditions, but remained firm on their demands.
Thousandsof farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have beencamping at the Delhi border points -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur to demand acomplete repeal of laws, enacted in September, last year.
Thefarmers want the repeal of the contentious laws and a legal guarantee onminimum support price (MSP).
Thefarmers claim that the laws will weaken the MSP system. The Centre, however,has touted the laws as historic, long-needed reforms in the agriculture sectorand said that it will bring investment to the market. It also assured that theMSP system will remain as it is.
Theagitated farmers, however, fear that the laws will leave them at the mercy ofthe big corporates and end the 'mandi system,' where farmers are assured of aminimum price for their produce.
Multiplerounds of talks have taken place between the government and the farm leaders,but so far it has failed to end the deadlock.