CHANDIGARH: A cautious police barricaded all of Sector 27 from 8am to 2.45pm on Monday to secure a press conference addressed by Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar at Chandigarh Press Club, cutting off all openings for farmers seething with anger over the Karnal lathicharge incident to bring their protests closer to the site.
Such was the fortification that only two routes in the entire sector had been opened and that too with barricading. Police had also blocked the Sector 19 side of the roads dividing sectors 19 and 20, and sectors 19 C and 27 D.
SP (operations) Ketan Bansal refused to divulge the number of personnel deployed, saying the security cordon was arranged according to inputs. He was overseeing the security set up in front of the club. Nearly 500 cops, including those from Haryana Police, were deployed in Sector 27 and parts of Sector 19, according to rough estimates.
Even as Bansal justified the heavy deployment, about 100 farm activists staged a staged a sit-in on the Sector19 side of the road in front of the Sector 20 Jama Masjid — more than a kilometre away from the club.
While Bansal said the farmers had blocked this road, heavy police force had been deployed on the spot and at both ends of the road. Duty magistrate Rajeev Tewari was overseeing the security arrangements here. He said the road in front of Jama Masjid was opened by 2.15pm.
Pendu Sangharsh Committee Chandigarh president Gurpreet Singh Sumal said activists had blocked the road in front of Jama Masjid at 11.30am and continued to protest till 1.30pm. “Our plan was to protest in Sector 27, near the traffic signal with Sector19, but the police did not let us proceed. So we protested here,” he said.
“The heavy security was totally uncalled for. If Khattar is so afraid, he should hold press conferences at the secretariat or the CM office,” he said.
Police had blocked entries into the sector from Sector 19 and Sector 28. Traffic was being allowed to move in from the road dividing Sector 27C and D, but vehicles could not enter Sector 27B, where the club is located. Vehicles coming from the northern side, which is the road dividing Sector 27A and B, were being diverted into the lanes around residences of Sector 27B, so that they could proceed to the Sector 27D market.
No parking for press corps
Chandigarh Press Club parking was out of bounds for journalists. After going through security at barricades, they had to park their cars in market or in residential area , and walk to the club. Press cards issued by publications were not valid.
Farm activists detained
There were reports of a woman farm activist being detained from near Chandigarh Press Club. A police official said the woman had been rounded up and taken to the Sector 26 police station. She had been detained as she had reached near the club with a farm flag to protest against Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar.
