Delhi Police have increased security measures across the city following the recovery of suspected ammonium nitrate and arms in Faridabad, Haryana. The heightened security includes increased surveillance at border points and sensitive zones.
The police suspect the recces were part of a larger conspiracy to target the historic monument on January 26, which might have failed due to intense patrolling in the area at the time.
A batch of 35 Indians deported from the US included people from Kaithal, Karnal, and Kurukshetra districts in Haryana. They recounted their experiences and the financial burdens they faced trying to immigrate to the US.
On Sunday, the city police removed two huge cement barriers for those commuters who walk towards Delhi using a small passage at the Singhu and Tikri borders.
The Kisan Social Army has constructed a few permanent shelters near Delhi's Tikri border for the farmers protesting against the recently enacted farm laws in the country.
Armed with hope and a revolutionary poem by noted Punjabi poet 'Pash', a farmer cycled nearly 400 km from Fardikot to the Tikri border to join the massive protest by peasants against the new farm laws.
Jai Singh, a resident of Tungwali village in Bathinda district, and his brother had been part of the farmers' protest at the Haryana-Delhi border against the Centre's three farm laws for the last several days, according to Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) leader Shingara Singh.
Some of the places where heavy waterlogging was reported included the Minto Bridge underpass, Feroz Shah Road, Patel Chowk Metro Station area and Maharaj Ranjeet Singh Marg.
The farmer leaders insist that the crowd is merely shifting from one spot to another to mobilise more people to join the movement.
With protesting farmers seeking to march to the national capital, security remained tight on Wednesday with personnel deployed in huge numbers and barricades regulating movement in central Delhi and at border points with Haryana, which can cause hardships to commuters.
Authorities in New Delhi intensified security arrangements on Tuesday to stop the farmers' march from entering Delhi as the Singhu and Tikri borders were shut while the Red Fort complex was closed temporarily after peasants on their way to the national capital clashed with the police at the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab.
As the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation of farmers entered the third day on Thursday, two key border points between Delhi and Haryana remained closed for traffic, while security personnel in anti-riot gear conducted drills and mock exercises to ensure their fool-proof preparation.
The Delhi Police directed security personnel deployed at Delhi's Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur border points to stay alert and conducted mock drills on Tuesday, a day ahead of protesting farmer's proposed march towards the national capital.
The Delhi Police has already stocked up a large number of tear gas shells and ordered 30,000 more from the BSF's Tear Smoke Unit (TSU) located at Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior, an official said.
Six weather stations across Delhi recorded over 100 mm of rain in a single day, the India meteorological department (IMD) said on Thursday, categorising it as an "extremely intense spell".
In view of the farmers' protest and march to Parliament, the Delhi police started preparations to check the advancing farmers' march beforehand, an officer said.
A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.
Haryana Police lobbed tear gas shells at farmers from Punjab at Shambhu border between the two states as thousands of protesters stayed put there on Wednesday, the second day of their 'Delhi Chalo' march.
Those familiar with intricate Kashmir politics do not rule out further delay in the assembly elections. Primarily, because the BJP having 'invested' so much for so long in Kashmir would try its best to wait a little longer if only to secure the 'gains' it believes to have achieved after its deafening action on August 5, 2019, points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Delhi Police has given permission to the farmers to hold their 'Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' with the condition of gathering not exceeding to 5,000, no tractor trolleys, no march at the Ramlila Maidan, and made elaborate security arrangements that may lead to a heavy traffic jam in the national capital on March 14, officials on Wednesday said.
Due to a 'Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' convened by farmers at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Thursday, the Delhi Police has beefed up security and deployed heavy force for checking vehicles, which might lead to traffic snarls in the central parts of the city, officials said.
Vehicles entering Delhi were being checked and pickets were increased at Delhi-Ghazipur, Tikri and Singhu borders.
Ahead of farmers' 'Delhi Chalo March', the Delhi Police has intensified security arrangements at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri borders and installed nails along with barricades to prevent vehicles carrying protesters from entering the city, officials said on Sunday.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher on Tuesday said the Centre should convene a daylong Parliament session to bring a legislation on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, a key demand of protesting farmers.
Farmers from Punjab clashed with Haryana police at two border points between the states on Tuesday, facing tear gas and water cannons as they tried to break past barricades blocking their protest march to the national capital. The police lobbed tear gas shells -- some of them dropped from a drone -- and tried to disperse groups of stone-pelting protesters in the face-off that last several hours at Shambhu border near Ambala in Haryana.
Thousands of women gathered at protest sites around Delhi as the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions, organised protests in different states on Friday, November 26, to mark the first anniversary of the farmers' movement against the three central farm laws.
The Delhi Police on Thursday began removing barricades put up at the Tikri border where thousands of farmers are protesting against the Centre's three agri laws, a senior officer said.
After participating in the farmers' protest against the Centre's agri laws at the Tikri border, the women were returning to their village in Mansa district of Punjab.
Farmers have taken down their settlements and have vacated the borders around Delhi, which were their protesting sites for the last one year.
Emotions ran high as the farmers performed ardas (prayers) and havan to thank the almighty and started their 'victory march' from Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur protest sites to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in convoys of tractors, bedecked with colourful flowers and lights and blaring songs of jubilation.
Farmers said that they never blocked roads at the Delhi border points.
"Our call of tractor march to Parliament still stands. A final decision on the future course of the agitation and MSP issues will be taken in a meeting of the SKM at Singhu Border on Sunday," farmer leader and SKM core committee member Darshan Pal told PTI on Saturday.
The eastern and northern parts of Delhi witnessed rain and hailstorm, IMD said.
Hundreds of farmers, chiefly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, continue to encamp Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur border points of Delhi despite "a few" of them being removed after testing positive for COVID-19 and some symptomatic protesters undergoing medication.
Thousands of farmers camping at the Tikri borders are largely seen without the basic preventive measure against COVID-19 -- protective masks.
The deceased were identified as Shamsher Singh (around 45 years of age), a resident of Lidhra village in Punjab's Sangrur district, Jashandeep Singh (18), a resident of Chauke village in Punjab's Bathinda district, and Jagbir Singh (60), a resident of Jind in Haryana, the police said.
The decision has been taken to 'maintain public safety and averting public emergency' under Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules 2017
The Delhi Police on Thursday detained 15 more people for their suspected involvement in the violence during the farmers' tractor parade in the national capital on January 26, officials said.
Dominic Xavier asks when the Modi Sarkar will heed the plight of the protesting farmers who have been agitating for more than forty days in freezing temperatures.
The deceased has been identified as Jai Bhagwan Rana (42), a resident of Pakasma village in Rohtak district of Haryana. He had consumed Sulphas tablets at the farmers' protest site at Tikri on Tuesday, they said.