Farmers Protest: Traffic Jam at Gurgaon-Delhi border at Sirhaul
– Photo: Agency
Expansion
Delhi is frightened by the farmers’ movement. People living in Delhi-NCR are feeling that if the farmers come to the Delhi-UP border like last time, then their life will become difficult. If the agitation continues for a long time, it will not only cause huge problems in commuting to Delhi, but the prices of essential commodities will also increase. In the current situation, the prices of vegetables have started increasing suddenly. There has been a loss of thousands of crores due to disruption in the supply of essential raw materials in the factories of Delhi. If the movement continues for a long time then it will be difficult to bear this loss.
current situation
After four rounds of talks failed between the central government and the farmers, on February 21, the farmers gave the slogan of ‘Dilli Chalo’. At present there is a huge gathering of farmers at Shambhu border. They are trying to move towards Delhi, but the police is trying its best to stop them. Minor clashes have started between farmers and police personnel. If the police forces fail to stop the farmers, the farmers will move forward and this may make the situation in Delhi extremely critical.
biggest hindrance in traffic
At present, to prevent farmers from entering Delhi, Delhi Police has closed the roads under the flyover on the Ghazipur-UP border. Vehicular movement has become extremely slow due to police barricading gates placed at intervals on the flyover. Two to three kilometer long lines of vehicles have formed on NH 24 flyover on both sides of Ghazipur vegetable market. If the movement continues further, the problem may worsen.
Vegetable prices increased
Generally the prices of vegetables remain low at this time. A huge amount of green vegetables are produced in the fields of farmers and they deliver it to Azadpur, Ghazipur, Keshopur vegetable market directly or through middlemen. Due to this, the prices of vegetables remain relatively low. Till now the prices of potatoes were hovering around Rs 10 per kg, but amidst the news of farmers coming to Delhi and the border being sealed, there has been a sudden increase in the prices of potatoes. Potato prices have suddenly increased by Rs 15 to Rs 20 per kg. That means the prices of the most important vegetable, potato, have increased by one and a half to two times in the retail market.
This effect has also been felt on vegetables like tomato, peas, capsicum. Tomato is now priced at Rs 30 per kg instead of Rs 20, peas at Rs 40 per kg instead of Rs 20 and capsicum at Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kg. If the movement progresses, it will increase the problems of the common people. The vegetable vendors themselves say that now the autos and trucks they are using to transport the vegetables are having to take long trips due to road closures, due to which they are charging one and a half to two times the price. This is affecting the prices of vegetables.
Huge loss due to shortage of raw materials
Due to impact on the movement of trucks, there is a shortage of raw materials in Delhi’s factories. Due to this, the functioning of factories in many places has almost come to a standstill or has become very slow. Due to this, factory owners and workers are suffering huge losses. If the movement continues for a long time, it can cause major damage.