'No New Year for us until govt accepts our demands'

New Delhi: Thousands of farmers protesting at the Singhu border for over a month now will ring in the New Year sans any celebrations.

"There is no New Year for us until the government accepts our demands," said Harjinder Singh from Punjab's Ropar, who has been camping at the Delhi-Haryana border since November 25.

In the last round of talks on Wednesday, the government addressed the farmers' concerns over the increasing power tariff and penalties for stubble burning, but that wasn't good enough news to celebrate yet, said the farmers.

Among the issues that continue to remain unresolved are the revocation of the new farm laws and a legal guarantee of the minimum support price for their crops.

"Both the demands that they have agreed to were not laws yet. Their impact was yet to be felt. And we went to the government with the demands with clarity. They cannot pick and choose what suits them. They have to listen to all our demands," said Harmesh Singh, a farmer from Punjab's Hoshiarpur.

"If the government wants to see our strength, we will show them. People like us who are used to living in 'kothis' (bungalows) are now sleeping on the road. We have been protesting peacefully for a month, we can keep protesting for a year too," added Bhupinder Singh, also from Hoshiarpur. Most farmers this year will be welcoming the New Year away from their families, but they are not complaining.

"Yes, we have a family back home and we are missing them, but this is also our family. All these farmers are our brothers, and uncles," said Harjinder.

Gurpreet Hayer from Jalandhar and Pratap Singh from Bhatinda have decided to do 'sewa' in the New Year as they had done in the past.

Gurpreet said he will be working with Gursikh Sewa Society to put up a "turban langar" for all the farmers on Friday.

Security remained tight at the Delhi borders with hundreds of personnel deployed at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri border points where the farmers have been camping.

The protests have also led to traffic congestion forcing police to divert vehicular movement.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, the Delhi Traffic Police alerted commuters about the routes that remained closed owing to the agitation and suggested them to take alternative roads.