Farmers suspend foot march to Delhi for the day after some suffer injuries

Farmer leader from Punjab Sarwan Singh Pandher said at least 8 farmers were injured and one of them was rushed to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh

Protesting farmers on Sunday afternoon suspended their foot march to Delhi for the day after some of them suffered injuries in tear gas shelling by Haryana security personnel here along the state's border with Punjab.

Farmer leader from Punjab Sarwan Singh Pandher said at least eight farmers were injured and one of them was rushed to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh.

"We have called back the 'jatha' (group of 101 farmers)," he told reporters here.

Pandher said the farmers would decide their next course of action after a meeting of their forums -- the Samyuka Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha.

The 'jatha' resumed its foot march from the farmers' Shambhu protest site earlier in the afternoon but was soon halted by multilayered barricading erected by Haryana security personnel.

Tear gas shells were lobbed at the protesting farmers and water jets were used as well to disperse them after they reached the barricades.

The Ambala police had earlier said the farmers' outfits may march to Delhi only after getting permission from the national capital administration.

The group, dubbed as 'marjeevras' (someone willing to die for a cause), was marching for a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price before being stopped only a few metres away.