2 Haryana stadiums converted to makeshift jails ahead of farmers' 'Dilli Chalo' protest march: Report

Ahead of the farmers' February 13 'Delhi Chalo' march, the Haryana government has converted two large stadiums, Chaudhary Dalbir Singh Indoor Stadium in Sirsa and Guru Gobind Singh Stadium in Dabwali, into makeshift jails, NDTV reported on Monday.

The government plans on detaining the farmers who try to go ahead into the national capital.

The authorities in Delhi have also tightened security by imposing Section 144 for a month and closing borders. Road spikes, barbed wires and thousands of police personnel have been deployed.

A team of three Union ministers will hold talks with a delegation of farmer leaders today.

Border restrictions hindering farmers' movement into the national capital drew criticism from Opposition parties and farmers' groups.

Both the Haryana and Delhi governments defended the restrictions, citing the 2020 protests, during which farmers, primarily from Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, staged a year-long sit-in at Delhi's border points—Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur—against the three central farm laws. In response to the protests, the Centre opted to revoke the laws, formally repealing them in December 2021.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra posted a video on X showing road spike barriers placed on state borders and questioned, "Is laying thorns and nails in the path of farmers reflective of 'amritkaal' or a time of injustice?"

Punjab Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Bhagwant Mann likened the security situation along the Delhi and Haryana border to the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan.

"I urge the Centre to hold talks with farmers and accept their genuine demands... There are as many wires put up on the roads (at the Punjab-Haryana borders) to go to Delhi as there are at the border with Pakistan," Mann said in a gathering.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha and several farmer associations, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab have called the protest to press the Centre to accept their demands of land acquisition and for the enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader, Jagjit Singh Dallewal also slammed the blocking of roads. "If the situation turns sour, it will be the responsibility of the Khattar government," he said in a video message on X.

Haryana has sealed the border with Punjab at Shambhu near Ambala. Arrangements are in place at the border in Jind and Fatehabad districts to stop the march. Mobile internet services and bulk SMS have been snapped in the state's seven districts - Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad, and Sirsa - from February 11 to 13.