Bharat Bandh: Traffic hit across Punjab, Haryana, UP, Delhi as farmers protest

Traffic has been hit on roads and highways at various places in Delhi, UP, Punjab and Haryana as farmers protested against farm laws on Monday. Farmer organisations have called a Bharat Bandh as part of their protest seeking withdrawal of three farm laws.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of over 40 farm unions spearheading the farmers' agitation, had earlier appealed to the people to join the bandh.

Patrolling has been intensified, extra personnel have been deployed at the pickets especially across the border areas and every vehicle entering the national capital is being thoroughly checked, according to the police.

Delhi-Amritsar National Highway has been blocked at Shahabad in Haryana's Kurukshetra by protesting farmers. The traffic movement has been closed from Uttar Pradesh towards Ghazipur due to protest, Delhi Traffic Police said on Monday.

Protesting farmers parked their tractors on highways and major link roads in both Punjab and Haryana and sat on the road. Farmers have also begun protesting at the Barnala railway station in Punjab. Farmers also blocked the Sonepat railway station in Haryana in the wake of the Bharat Bandh.

The bandh will be held from 6 am to 4 pm during which all government and private offices, educational and other institutions, shops, industries and commercial establishments as well as public events and functions will be closed throughout the country, it had said.

All emergency establishments and essential services, including hospitals, medical stores, relief and rescue work and people attending to personal emergencies will be exempted. Farmers from different parts of the country, especially Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at Delhi borders since November last year, demanding the repeal of the three contentious farm laws.