Agitated farmers on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border near Ghazipur on Thursday failed in their attempt to enter the national capital by breaking the barricades after the police pacified the situation."If a decision is not taken in 24 hours, we will break all the barricades at different locations and enter Delhi," Pawan Khatana, Bharat Kisan Union's Delhi-NCR President, told IANS after attempting to break the barricades.Thousands of farmers protesting against the Central farm laws have laid siege at Ghazipur border and on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway in a bid to enter the national capital. The crowd swelled after around 100 tractors reached the protest site at noon.The border points in the area continue to remain under heavy police cover with multilayered barricades in place.In the morning, when the farmers had blocked the expressway, Gayendra Singh, SP (City), Ghaziabad, had said that the police were hopeful that the blockade will end soon on the key road leading to Delhi.
All eyes are now on the ongoing fourth round of talks between the farmers' unions and the Centre. The third round talks had failed to break the deadlock on Tuesday.The farmers have been sitting on protest for the last eight days at Delhi-Haryana and Delhi-Uttar Pradesh borders. Thousands of farmers have been camping at the Singhu border, while several other groups have blocked entry at the Delhi-Haryana border in Tikri, the Delhi-UP border in Ghazipur and the Delhi-UP border in Chilla.The farmers are demanding that the three farm laws passed by the Parliament in September be repealed, expressing apprehension that they would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the mercy of the big corporates.The government has, however, maintained that the laws will provide farmers with better opportunities. It has also accused the opposition parties of "misleading" the farmers.