The farmers have said the weather will not dampen their spirit and they will continue the protest till their demands are met.
The NCRTC, which is executing the country's first RRTS, said the contract was awarded following the set procedure and guidelines.
The government and the farm unions had reached some common ground on Wednesday to resolve the protesting farmers' concerns over rise in power tariff and penalties for stubble burning, but the two sides remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP.
The government and farm unions had reached some common ground on Wednesday to resolve protesting farmers' concerns over rise in power tariff and penalties for stubble burning.
The Prime Minister's Office has said that these innovations will herald a new era of travelling comfort and enhanced mobility.
Security remained tight at the Delhi borders with hundreds of personnel deployed at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri where the farmers have been camping.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday squarely blamed those with political agenda for the deadlock in the Centre's talks with protesting farmers.
The toll plaza employees allowed vehicles to pass through without paying any charge.
These farmers, belonging to various districts of western Uttar Pradesh, have come for the demonstration on the call of farmers' union Kisan Sena and want to go to Delhi to meet Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, according to the outfit's conevnor Thakur Gauri Shankar Singh.
Security remained tight at the Delhi borders with hundreds of personnel deployed at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri as thousands of farmers have been staging their protests at the borders for nearly a month now. This has also led to traffic congestion forcing police to divert vehicular movement.
The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 3 lakh for the third consecutive day.
The letter by Singh, who is camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida along with his faction members since December 2, came as protestors marked the birth anniversary of former prime minister and farmers' leader Chaudhary Charan Singh.
Farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu had said that 32 farmer unions from Punjab held a meeting on Tuesday and discussed the next course of action.
Thousands of agriculturists, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting against the laws for the last over four weeks at various border points of Delhi and demanding that the legislations be repealed.
The farmers' agitation, which has entered its fourth week, has also led to traffic diversions at various border points causing inconvenience to commuters.
Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at various border of Delhi for almost four weeks now as formal talks between the government and representatives of farmers' unions remained deadlocked with protesting peasants refusing to accept anything less than a repeal of the newly enacted laws.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it would set up the committee which may include experts like P Sainath and representatives of the government and farmers' bodies to look for the resolution of the deadlock over the statutes.
On Wednesday, the top court observed that the Centre's talks with the protesting farmers have 'not worked apparently' and were bound to fail, and said it will form a committee having representatives of both the sides, but the agitating leaders dismissed it as no solution.
Farmers said the government should have formed a committee of farmers and others before the laws were enacted by Parliament.
Multiple pleas have been filed in the top court seeking a direction to authorities to immediately remove the farmers, saying commuters are facing hardships due to the road blockades and the gatherings might lead to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
"Your negotiations with protesting farmers have not worked apparently till now," the bench told the Centre.
A senior police officer said elaborate security measures are already in place at the Chilla border. Multi-layered barricades, jersey barriers and additional security personnel have been deployed to ensure law and order.
The suburban network, called Mumbai's lifeline, use to ferry over 70 lakh commuters daily before the coronavirus outbreak.
Farmer leaders said they were making arrangements for the women coming from different parts of Punjab. Tents are being put up, a separate langar is being planned, and extra temporary toilets are being arranged, they added.
Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, which is spearheading the protests at Delhi border points, distributed handbills in Hindi to commuters on the Jaipur-Delhi Highway near Haryana-Rajasthan borders, where hundreds of farmers have been camping for almost past three weeks now, to convey their apology, and also reiterate their demand for legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price.
The hunger strike between 8 am and 5 pm is part of the farmers' plan to intensify their agitation from Monday.
The Delhi police had on Saturday increased security arrangements by deploying additional personnel and placing more concrete barriers.
The agitating farmers had earlier said they would picket toll plazas to press their demand for a repeal of the three new laws, which were voted through in Parliament in September amid strong protests by opposition parties.
There is no protest yet on Delhi's borders with Gurgaon and at other points of National Highway-8 that connects the national capital with Jaipur, a senior police officer said.
What engineering problems make it hard to use 17th century physics to move lots of people quickly across serious distances? Devangshu Datta has the answers.
In a series of tweets, the Delhi Traffic Police said Tikri and Dhansa borders are closed for traffic movement, while Jhatikara border is open only for two-wheelers and pedestrians.
Thousands of farmers camping at the Tikri borders are largely seen without the basic preventive measure against COVID-19 -- protective masks.
'The government knows our demands and knows well about our peaceful demonstration. It can address our concern and we will be gone'
Some taxi and cab unions, including those associated with app-based aggregators, have decided to join the strike called by farmers organisations demanding repeal of three new farm sector laws.
The Delhi Traffic Police took to Twitter to inform commuters about alternative routes open for travelling to the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
The farmers threatened to intensify their agitation and block more roads if the government did not accept their demand.
Fear of the disease has affected the way employees commute, the number of coffee breaks they take, and even their conversations with colleagues. Does a restricted environment affect the spirit of interaction and collaboration that offices are meant to inspire, wonders Ranjita Ganesan.
The plea has sought the apex court directions to the authorities to open the roads at Delhi borders, shift these protestors to allotted place and provide guidelines on social distancing and use of mask at the protest place to contain spread of COVID-19 cases.
Another round of discussions between the farmer unions and Centre is slated for Saturday.
Farmers had threatened to block other roads of Delhi in the coming days if the new agriculture laws are not scrapped soon.
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