'Use' of hammer at Shambhu border alerts farmers

Speculations were rife over creating a passage for farmers at the Shambhu border after a person was allegedly seen using a hammer to break a concrete structure at the protest site on Tuesday.

A video in this regard was shared by BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) spokesman Tejveer Singh in which a person was purportedly seen using a hammer on the structure. However, the activity soon stopped.

The interstate border has been lying closed since February. Heavy Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) structures along with cemented barricades were placed at Shambhu to stop the farmers from heading towards Delhi on tractor-trailers.

Recently, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have announced to hold a march to Delhi on foot on December 6 in support of their demands. The activity on the border on Tuesday triggered speculations that a passage may be opened to allow the farmers to march on foot. The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) has asked the state government to clear its stand on farmers’ call given for December 6. However, the officials claimed that so far there was no direction to open the border for any movement.

In a video shared by the BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) spokesman Tejveer Singh, a person was seen using a hammer on the wall however later the activity was stopped soon.

Tejveer Singh said: “Earlier, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal was detained and then we heard the sound of hammer being used on the Shambhu border. When we asked the officials they didn’t respond to us and later they stopped their activity. We will not tolerate any action on the farmers as we have been protesting peacefully. We even tried to go near the wall where the hammer was being used but we were stopped by the security personnel. The government should clarify its stand on the call given by the farmers for Delhi March on December 6.”

Sources said a meeting was to be held by the district administration on Tuesday regarding the situation at Shambhu border but it was postponed for Wednesday. Hammer was being used just to check the strength of the structure to assess the situation and take a decision regarding the machines to be deployed to break it if there are any directions.

Meanwhile, Ambala Superintendent of Police (SP) Surinder Singh Bhoria, said, “The employees check the strength of the structure regularly. No passage has been created and so far there is no direction to open the border partially or fully for any kind of movement. A decision regarding opening the Shambhu border is to be taken by the government.”