Protesters agree to limit tractor rally to outer parts of Delhi, NCR

New Delhi: Protesting farmers’ unions agreed to limit their tractor march on January 26 to the outer parts of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), rather than conduct it on the Outer Ring Road as they had earlier proposed, after a long meeting with Delhi Police on Sunday.

The march will see participation of 100,000-200,000 tractors, cover about 170 km and may last 24-48 hours. It will begin after the Republic Day event is over around noon, unions’ leaders said after the meeting with the police.

Delhi Police said it will remove security barricades at the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders to let in tractors and ensure they return after the march is over. The tractors will stay off all arterial roads that are part of the contingency plans for Republic Day and travel in a circular fashion in outer Delhi and the NCR for a distance of about 63 km each from the Singhu and Tikri borders and for about 46 km from the Ghazipur border, it said.


All the tractors will sport a big tricolour apart from the flags of the farmers’ unions, as per plans disclosed by leaders.

“Farmers agreed not to do the tractor march on the Ring Road after they were told that security arrangements that last from January 26 till beating the retreat ceremony on January 29 would be adversely impacted,” said a senior official, who did not wish to be identified.

“Our tractors will be going on routes which have a good population so that people can see our tractor rally,” said senior farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal.