New Delhi [India], April 3 (HBTV): The Punjab government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that protesting farmers had been cleared from the Shambhu and Khanauri borders near Haryana, and farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who was on a fast unto death, had also ended his fast.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotishwar Singh was informed by Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh that the national highway was now open for traffic.

The Punjab government first cleared the protesters from the site, following which the Haryana government restored the highway and resumed traffic movement.

‘I said it, highways are not supposed to be (occupied). National highways are the lifeline of the country,’ Justice Kant remarked.

Regarding Dallewal, Punjab's Advocate General stated that he had ended his hunger strike, which had started in November last year.

‘Mr. Dallewal accepted water today and broke his fast,’ Singh said.

The Supreme Court also declined to entertain a contempt petition filed against the Punjab authorities for allegedly violating a status quo order by clearing the protesters.

Responding to the petition, the bench told the lawyer, ‘We have been asking them to clear the highway; the contempt petition is misconceived.’ The lawyer subsequently withdrew the petition.

The bench also dropped the contempt proceedings initiated earlier against the Punjab Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) for not taking steps to hospitalise Dallewal while he was on a fast unto death.

Additionally, the court directed the High-Powered Committee, constituted to facilitate negotiations between the protesting farmers and the governments, to file its supplementary report.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had urged Punjab authorities to swiftly address Dallewal’s health situation and had advised both Punjab and Haryana to continue discussions with the protesting farmers to persuade them to clear the highway at the Shambhu border.

In February last year, the Haryana government had set up barricades on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway after farmer bodies announced a march to Delhi, demanding, among other things, a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

(ANI)