Chakka Jam: Delhi Police asks DMRC to shut down these metro stations on Feb 6 if need arises

Ahead of the three-hour-long 'chakka jam' on February 6 by farmers, the Delhi Police on Thursday wrote a letter to the DMRC. In the letter, New Delhi DCP asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to be prepared to shut down a dozen metro stations, if the need arises, within short notice.

The DCP has said that given the circumstances of law and order and to control the crowd, the metro staff should be ready. The Delhi Police is taking all measures ahead of the 'chakka jam'.

The 12 metro stations are -- Rajiv Chowk, Patel Chowk, Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhawan, Lok Kalyan Marg, Janpath, Mandi House, RK Ashram, Supreme Court, Khan Market and Shivaji Stadium (Airport Express Line). All these metro stations fall within the New Delhi area.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait has said that the 'chakka jam' will not take place in Delhi, UP and Uttarakhand.

"There will be a three-hour-long 'chakka jam' on February 6. It won't take place in Delhi but everywhere outside Delhi. The people that will be stuck in it will be given food and water. We will tell them what is the Govt doing with us," Tikait said. 

As per the guidelines, farmers will block only the national and state highways across the country from 12 noon to 3 p.m.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of the farmer unions, in a statement said that emergency and essential services such as ambulance and school bus will not be stopped during the 'chakka jam' that is proposed to be held between 12 pm and 3 pm on Saturday.

"There will be no chakka jam programme inside 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 statement stated.

Meanwhile, security at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders has been tightened by deploying extra forces and putting up multi-layered barricades, barbed wires and nails studded on the roads.

Farmers have been protesting at different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws: 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.