Amid the ongoing protest in and at the borders of the national capital against the recently enacted farm laws, farmers closed two toll plazas in Haryana’s Ambala and Karnal late last night, letting the vehicles cross without paying the duty.
Bys seeing this intense situation by the protestors Ravi Tiwari, in-charge at Shambhu Toll Plaza in Ambala said, “Vehicles are not paying the toll since midnight. Some farmers had come and forced us to close the toll plaza. We haven’t received any information yet as to how long this will continue but the farmers are saying that it will remain toll-free throughout the day till midnight.”
In addition to this as part of their agitation, In Ambala farmers have also closed Bastara Toll Plaza in Karnal late last night.
The farmers, who were mainly from Haryana and Punjab were adamant that until the government fulfills their demands to withdraw the laws, the movement would continue in a similar way.
This would lead to huge losses for the toll plaza operators. Thousands of vehicles cross the Bastara Toll Plaza on the Delhi-Chandigarh route everyday. Around Rs 200 is charged here.
Scores of farmers across the country, including Haryana, are heading towards Delhi to join the agitation amid the deadlock with the central government over the new farm laws. They also planned to block the Delhi-Jaipur, and Delhi-Agra highways on Saturday.
Apart from this, the farmers’ unions have threatened to block railway tracks if the laws are not repealed.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has appealed to the protesters to stop their agitation as talks are still going on. And about 2,000 police personnel are on duty in Gurgaon and 3,500 policemen have been deployed in Faridabad to stop the protesters and to protect toll booths and ensure smooth flow of traffic.