Haryana government forms committee to talk to farmers on opening Singhu border

A senior officer told The Indian Express that discussions were held on the issue of reopening of NH-44 in the wake of an ongoing case in the Supreme Court. The next date of hearing in the case is September 20.

“It was decided that a committee, on behalf of the state government, shall hold talks with the farmer union leaders. The committee shall be headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajeev Arora and state police chief DGP P K Agrawal, ADGP (Law and Order) Navdeep Singh Virk and Balkar Singh (Home Secretary-1) shall be the members of this committee. To begin with, the committee shall hold talks with SKM leaders, persuade them on vacating the NH-44 stretch occupied by them and then decide on the further course of action,” Haryana chief secretary Vijai Vardhan told The Indian Express.

Citing the writ petition filed by Monicca Agarwaal, regarding the blockades on NH-44 by protesting farmers and Supreme Court’s August 23 order on the petition, Sonipat deputy commissioner Lalit Siwach had Tuesday urged the farmer union leaders that they should either shift to one side of the highway or move to an alternate site.

Farmer union leaders who had met Sonipat Deputy Commissioner had told the district administration that they will discuss the matter with the senior leadership of SKM and then take a decision.

While hearing a writ petition on August 23, the apex court had said, “We impressed upon the learned Solicitor General that the solution lies in the hands of Union of India and the concerned state governments and they must coordinate to ensure that if the protests are on, at least the inter-state roads and national highways are not blocked in any manner whatsoever so that to and fro on those roads does not cause great inconvenience to the other persons who use these roads.”