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Agencies

Kisan Union leader demands restoration of internet at protest sites; threatens protest
30-January-2021

As the internet services were shut down in parts of Delhi-NCR close to farmers' protest sites, Krantikari Kisan Union leader Darshal Pal has appealed to the government to restore the services, else the farmers will protest against it. "We demand the restoration of internet services in areas where agitation is going on. Otherwise, we will hold a demonstration against it in the country," Pal said while addressing the media on Friday.

The Haryana government on Friday suspended all mobile internet, SMS, and dongle services in 17 districts including Sonipat, Palwal, and Jhajjar till 5 pm on January 30. The voice calls, however, are exempted as earlier from the suspension.

The districts under the fresh suspension order include Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal, Panipat, Hisar, Jind, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Fatehabad, Rewari, and Sirsa.

The suspension came after violence took place in the national capital during the farmers' tractor rally on Republic Day.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) supporters stayed put on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Friday as the crowd swelled there, notwithstanding the Ghaziabad administration's ultimatum to vacate the UP Gate protest site where security force in large numbers was re-deployed.

On a call of the BKU, more farmers from western Uttar Pradesh districts such as Meerut, Baghpat, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad and Bulandshahr reached the UP Gate by early morning to join the stir, even as the security forces at the protest site thinned out overnight.

A confrontation was building up at the UP Gate in Ghazipur even as frequent power cuts were witnessed on Thursday evening at the protest site, where BKU members, led by Rakesh Tikait, are staying put since November 28 last year.

Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey and Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani visited the protest site post-midnight to review the situation there even as hundreds of security personnel in anti-riot gears were deployed since Thursday.