A farmer looks at his phone as he stands next to his tractor trolley as farmers march towards New Delhi to push for better crop prices promised to them in 2021, at Shambhu Barrier, the border between Punjab and Haryana states.
Credit: Reuters Photo
NEW DELHI: Mobile internet services, which were suspended on February 11 in view of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march call by protesting farmers' unions, were restored in seven districts of Haryana on Sunday morning.
The authorities also initiated the process to partially reopen the Singhu and Tikri borders between Delhi and Haryana, which had been sealed since the protests started on February 13.
Mobile internet services and bulk SMSes will now be available in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad, and Sirsa, as the Haryana government decided not to extend the suspension order.
Individual SMS, voice calls, banking SMS, and internet services provided by broadband and lease lines to corporate and households though were exempted from the shutdown in the public interest.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are leading the agitation for the fulfilment of various demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops and a farm loan waiver.
Protesting farmers from Punjab have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri points of the state's border with Haryana since February 13.
The farmers will continue to stay put at the two border points until February 29, when the next course of action will be decided, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher had said on Friday.