A panel of three Union ministers will hold a meeting with protesting farmer leader in Chandigarh, Thursday for another round of talks amid the ongoing standoff between the agitators and security personnel at the Punjab-Haryana boarder.
Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai will meet the farmer leaders at 5 pm here over their various demands, including a law guarantee Minimum Support Pricefor crops.
This will be the third round of talks between the two sides: the previous two rounds of dialogue on February 8 and 12 remained inconclusive.
At Shambhu border point near Ambala, there was intermittent shelling today by security personnel at the ‘Delhi Chalo’ protesters who are demanding minimum support price for their crops. Tear smoke was used whenever any group of farmers moved towards the barricades.
Security personnel faced stone-pelting from the protesters.
A similar standoff continued at the at Data Singhwala-Khanauri border in Haryana’s Jind district.
But the situation remained less volatile compared to Tuesday, when farmers tried to shift cement barriers at Shambhu with their tractors, attempting to push towards Delhi.
Farmer leaders claimed that over 100 protesters were hurt on Tuesday, hit by rubber bullets and teargas shells. Police said 24 of their own men were injured in the stone-pelting by protesters during the first day of the protest.
Farmers from Punjab are camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders of Punjab and Haryana seeking to march towards Delhi to press the Centre to accept their demands.
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