No Chakka Jam in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand on February 6: Rakesh Tikait

challa jam — Image Source : PTI (FILE)
Barricades set up at the Delhi-UP Ghazipur border.

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait has announced that there will be no road blockade in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on February 6. However, farmers will block roads in rest of the country excluding Delhi.

"The reason is that they (farmers) can be called to Delhi any time, so they are kept on standby," news agency ANI quoted Tikait, as saying.

Earlier today, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) chief Balbir Singh Rajewal met Tikait at the Ghazipur border, one of the three main sites of farmers' protest against the new farm laws.

Farmer unions have announced that they will hold a countrywide chakka jam on February 6 and block national and state highways for three hours to protest against the internet ban in areas near their agitation sites, harassment allegedly meted out to them by authorities, and other issues.

Thousands of farmers are demanding from the Centre to repeal the three farm laws which they believe will dismantle the existing mandi system and end the MSP structure. The three farm laws are -- the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

However, the the three laws -- enacted in September 2020, have been projected by the Central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country. The government has repeatedly assured the farmers that these three laws will not do away with MSP and mandis.

Meanwhile, Haryana police have stepped up security measures in view of the protesting farmer unions' call for a countrywide Chakka Jam on Saturday. Senior police officers have been asked to personally supervise security and traffic arrangements at vital junctions and roads while district police chiefs have been directed to ensure deployment of adequate personnel, according to an official communication issued to them.

Meanwhile, Samyukta Kisan Morcha leader Darshan Pal has released some important guidelines for the Chakka Jam. "We appeal to the public in India to kindly cooperate," he said.

Only national and state highways across the country will be jammed from 12 noon to 3 pm.
Emergency and essential services like ambulance, school bus etc. will not be stopped.
Chakka Jam will remain completely peaceful and non-violent. Protesters are asked to not to indulge in any conflict with the government official or ordinary citizens.
There will be no chakka jam program in NCR of Delhi since all the protest sites are already in a chakka jam mode. All roads for entering into Delhi will remain open except where farmers' protest sites are already located.
The chakka jam program will conclude at 3 pm by indicating the unity of farmers, by blowing the vehicle horn continuously for 1 minute. We also appeal to public to join in, at 3 pm to express their support and solidarity with our anna datas.