TAD NewsDesk, Punjab: In the state of Punjab, more than 1500 telephones have been vandalised. This has been an impact of outrage of the farmer’s protest against the three farm laws.
This action has been executed after the months of protests by thousands of farmers in Delhi.
The farmers are scared that the new laws will only benefit the big companies like Reliance and Adani group who had benefited on their expense.
They are also afraid that the government will slowly remove the Minimum Support Price.
Farm union leaders have, however, denied any role in the action against the telecom towers in Punjab state, India’s agricultural heartland and known as “the grain bowl of India”.
Officials said that the towers had power supplies and fibre cables cut while some had their generators stolen.
A source close to Jio, Reliance’s mobile phone enterprise, said more than 1,400 towers had been vandalised up to Sunday. A telecoms industry official said at least 150 more were damaged on Monday.
The office of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that more than 1,500 communication masts had been damaged or their power supply cut off in the past few days.
Mr Singh said in a statement,
“The use of violence could alienate the protesters from the masses, which would be detrimental to the interests of the farming community.”
No official statement has come from Reliance as of yet though the network has been affected as around 9,000 towers has been vandalised.
Also the protesters have blockaded one of Punjab’s biggest cooking oil depots owned by Adani subsidiary Fortune in the Punjab city of Amritsar.
Davinder Singh, a farmer said,
“We are with our farmer brothers who are protesting at the Delhi borders. We appealed to the people to boycott Jio and Adani. People have heard us. Many people have cut their Jio connections.”
A new round of talks has been initiated between the farmers and the government but if no resolution is sought for it then they are ready to continue the battle till they get the justice that they are asking.
Source: ALzajeera
