NEW DELHI: The concrete wall along with the barricades put up by by Delhi Police now runs across the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway, cutting off the protesters of Samyukta Kisan Morcha from the capital which in turn has denied the farmers access to two dozen mobile toilet vans and Delhi Jal Board water tankers.

This is seen as a move by the central government to pressurize and break down the protesting farmers despite saying that they are trying for an amicable solution for the situation.

The kisan township is now battling a sanitation problem with the waiting time at the few available toilets on the other side having gone up. As a result, many are now defecating in the open or going to the fields with the women particularly affected. Heaps of garbage are piling up on the Haryana side and disposable cutlery from the langars is being burnt on some vacant plots.

Meanwhile, more jathas of women have arrived from Jind, Sonepat and Narela. Ramrati Devi, an elderly woman from Jind, said that the attack on farmers by stone-pelters on January 29 had caused much distress in her region.

The resolve on the part of the police to keep the farmers grounded is visible by the way layers of barricades been put in place. Ahead of the concrete wall, towards Haryana, the last line of defence is a row of shipping metal containers which have been filled with concrete slabs. On the other other side of the wall, towards Delhi, the barricades stretch on and on, up to Singhola village.

Just before the penultimate layer of barricades, the cops said that they have been directed not to allow the media to go beyond that point, forcing reporters to take a detour of a few kilometres.

The farmer unions allege that the administration and the police are trying their maximum to hurt them using BJP-RSS workers, cutting off internet, basic amenities, cordoning of ways, changing routes in addition to the huge barricades now put up that denies them access to water and toilets.

Meanwhile, the police have registered cases against 122 people in connection with Republic Day clash