The meeting between the farmer's representatives and Delhi Police officials was held on Thursday on the issue of tractor rally on Republic Day remained indecisive, as Police has denied the farmers to take out the possession on the outer ring road terming it's as “very sensitive”, but the farmers are determined to hold their rally at the proposed site only.
Another meeting is between the farmers representative and the Delhi Police expected to be held on Friday to find a way. Today’s meeting was held at the Singhu border to discuss the route and arrangements for the tractor rally.
The Delhi Police during today’s meeting suggested the farmers take out tractor marches on the KMP (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) and KGP (Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal) highway outside Delhi.
However, the farmers rejected this proposal.
Special Commissioner (Law and Order-Western Zone) Sanjay Singh, Special Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) Dependra Pathak and other senior officers from Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh police were present at the meeting.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court has denied passing any order on the Centre’s against the tractor rally, saying it should be decided by the Police as it is a matter of law and order. The top court bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI), SA Bobde, had said the police have the authority to deal with the issues about the proposed tractor rally.
"To ensure the smooth conduction of the Republic Day parade is the job of the Delhi Police and we are committed to its consummation. We can't talk of any specific measures still," Manish Agrawal, Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police (Traffic) told ANI.
Darshan Pal, Krantikari Kisan Union said that the tractor rally cannot be conducted in Delhi due to security reasons. "The Central government has said that tractor parade on Republic Day can not be conducted on Delhi`s outer ring road, due to security reasons. We are clear that we will conduct a tractor parade there only. After tomorrow's meeting with the Centre, we will hold another meeting with police" Darshan Pal added.
"We will do our parade peacefully inside Delhi. They wanted us to hold the tractor rally outside Delhi, which is not possible," another leader of Swaraj Abhiyan Yogendra Yadav said who is actively participating in the ongoing protest against the Centre's new farm laws.