A large number of farmers on Tuesday squatted at the gates of the district headquarters in Karnal, locked in a showdown with Haryana's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over a police lathi-charge last month.
The gherao began in the evening, several hours after farmers from Haryana and neighbouring states reached Karnal's New Anaj Mandi for a mahapanchayat, riding tractors and motorcycles.
Marching on foot from the mahapanchayat venue to the mini-secretariat 5 kilometres away, farmers faced a water cannon as they neared the complex.
They jumped some barricades, but there was no other serious confrontation with police along the way.
The protesters are demanding action over a police lathi-charge in Karnal on August 28.
Farmer unions had warned that they will gherao the mini-secretariat if the administration did not meet their demands, centring around a now-transferred IAS officer Ayush Sinha.
The officer had been caught on tape allegedly telling policemen to 'break heads' if the protesters crossed the line.
Protest leaders Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Rakesh Tikait and Yogendra Yadav were at the gherao site.
Chaduni, who heads the Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union, said the sit-in will continue till their demands are met.
Late in the evening, Karnal Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said the administration had invited the farm leaders for another round of talks.
"We are in regular touch with them and we are hopeful of resolving the issue," he told PTI over phone.
The Home Department late in the evening extended the suspension of mobile internet services in Karnal until Wednesday midnight (till 23:59 hrs) as the situation was 'still volatile'.
Earlier, these services were suspended in Karnal and the four adjoining districts of Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind and Panipat until Tuesday midnight.
"Further intensification of protest is expected which may adversely affected the public safety and law and order situation in Karnal district," said the order, extending the suspension.
It did not mention the rest four districts.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC banning gathering of people were imposed in Karnal district.
In Delhi, the Congress said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar should resign if he cannot talk with the protesting farmers.
Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should shed his 'ego and arrogance' and withdraw the three 'black laws' over which farmers have been protesting for months.
Earlier, as the Karnal mahapanchayat began in the morning, the local administration invited 11 farm leaders for talks.
Three hours later, they announced that the administration had not agreed to the demands -- and then thousands of farmers headed on foot towards the secretariat.
Farm leaders told them not get into any confrontation with the police.
They were asked to squat on the road wherever they were stopped.
"The gherao of the mini-secretariat has started. We will sit here peacefully. Despite all obstacles, we have gheraoed the mini-secretariat," Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Yogendra Yadav announced later.
"We don't have to enter inside the mini-secretariat and only gherao it from outside," he told reporters.
During their talks with the administration, Yadav said, the farm leaders insisted only on the suspension of the IAS officer and no other demand was raised.
Yadav said the administration rejected the demand for any immediate action against him.
Officials, however, told the farm leaders that an inquiry will take place.
Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said the state government is not listening to the farmers.
'The Khattar government should agree to our demands or else arrest us. We are ready to fill Haryana jails,' he tweeted.
Yadav claimed in a tweet that the morcha leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, were briefly detained by Karnal police as they marched towards the secretariat.
Under 'huge pressure' from the farmers, they were brought out from the police bus, he said.
About 10 protesters were hurt in the clash with police in Karnal on August 28, as they tried to march towards the venue of a BJP meeting.
Their leaders also claimed that a farmer died later, an allegation rejected by the administration.
Balbir Singh Rajewal, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Darshan Pal and Yogendra Yadav were among the senior Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders who reached Karnal for the rally, held two days after a huge mahapanchayat in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar.
Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have been protesting over the three farm laws enacted at the Centre, claiming that the legislation will lead to the erosion of the minimum support price (MSP) system.
Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav, Karnal's Inspector General of Police Mamta Singh and Superintendent of Police Ganga Ram Punia, were among the officials who took part in the 'failed' talks with farm leaders.
Addressing the mahapanchayat earlier, Yogendra Yadav said, "We have come to ask the government which Constitution, which law gives an IAS officer permission to give orders to break the farmers' heads."
"Under which law are police allowed to carry out brutal lathi-charge resulting in the death of one and injuries to several others," he added.
Chaduni said a meeting with the district administration officials was held on Monday as well.
After failing to get any satisfactory response on their demands the farmers decided to hold a mahapanchayat on Tuesday, he added.
Traffic on the Delhi-Karnal-Ambala National highway was not disrupted while the panchayat continued, officials said.
