Find solution to farmers’ blockades: SC to Centre

New Delhi, August 23

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and governments of UP and Haryana to find a solution to the blockade of roads connecting Delhi with NCR towns by farmers agitating against the three farm laws.

Khori: Haryana gets 2 weeks

The SC on Monday gave two more weeks to Haryana to implement its order to demolish 10,000 illegal structures erected on forest land at Khori village in Faridabad.

Hearing on Sept 20

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• The Bench adjourned the hearing to September 20
• UP Govt says it is trying to make farmers understand that the blockade is inconveniencing commuters

The farmers have a right to protest at a designated space, but they can’t block the traffic, a Bench led by Justice SK Kaul said. “The solution lies in the hands of the Union of India and state governments…. Mr Mehta what is happening? You have to find a solution, they might have the right to a place to agitate, but the roads can’t be blocked like this,” the Bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

As the Solicitor General said, “We’ll look into this,” the Bench adjourned the hearing to September 20.

The top court was hearing a petition filed by a woman resident of Noida, alleging that due to blockade of roads by the agitating farmers travelling between Noida and Delhi was taking two hours instead of the usual 20 minutes.

The UP Government told the court that it was making efforts to make farmers understand that their grossly illegal act of blocking roads was causing grave inconvenience to commuters.

As the main roads connecting Delhi and Noida have remained blocked since the beginning of protests in November last, the Supreme Court had on March 29 issued notices to the Centre and the UP Government on the petition by the Noida woman.

Acting on the PIL filed by Monicca Agarwaal – a single parent with some medical issues—- the Bench had asked the Centre and UP Government to explain why the roads connecting Delhi and Noida were not kept blockade-free. TNS