Appeal farmers to go back, shouldn’t give any opportunity to govt to blame you: Sharad Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that the Centre failed to control the tractor march going out of hands in the national capital. He said farmers from Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh held protest in a disciplined manner but the government didn’t take them seriously. As restraint ended, the tractor march was taken out. Centre’s responsibility was to keep law and order in control but they failed.

“Nobody will support whatever happened today but the reason behind it cannot be ignored either. Those sitting calmly grew angry, the Centre didn’t fulfill its responsibility. Govt should act maturely and take the right decision,” Sharad Pawar said.

Police, farmers injured in violence being treated at Lok Nayak

A total of 20 people, comprising both policemen and farmers, are being treated at the Lok Nayak Hospital following clashes near the ITO crossing in central Delhi on Tuesday as some farmers deviated from the route of their tractor rally and drove into the city, officials said.

The Delhi government-run hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ritu Saxena, informed that eight policemen and 12 farmers are currently receiving treatment and a few of them have sustained serious injuries.

“Some have fractured their legs, hands and also suffered blows on their heads. We are treating them in an emergency ward,” she said. “However, no one is in critical condition,” she added.

Saxena said that they will be discharged soon as all of them are in stable health condition.

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Dramatic scenes in Delhi

Dramatic scenes were witnessed on Tuesday after the agitating farmers clashed with the Delhi Police near ITO, with the police firing the tear gas shells and carrying out baton charges to disperse them.

The farmers, who started their ‘Kisan Gantantra parade’ much ahead of their scheduled timing entered the national capital defying the agreement of the scheduled time of tractor rally and creating multiple fronts at Karnal Bypass, Mukarba Chowk, Transport Nagar, Akshardham, Gazipur and Tikri border and some farmers armed with swords were also seen clashing with the police.

(With inputs from IANS)

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