TAD News Desk, New Delhi: In the wake of newly introduced three farm laws by centre, a nationwide ‘Chakka jam’ was called by the farmers, and protestors of Punjab and Haryana showed their protest by road blockades and called for these laws to be taken back by the government.
All India Kishan Sangharsh Coordination Committee gave the call for nationwide ‘chakka jam’ from 12 PM-4 PM.
Inconvenience to commuters was caused by protestors blocking state and national highways at various places, in order to show allegiance to the cause.
Police traffic was quick to divert the traffic but nonetheless commuters faced traffic snarls.
Farmers were outrageous against the newly introduced laws and slammed the BJP government for robbing the farmers with ‘Black laws’ and benefiting big corporate houses.
Farmers of Punjab also had complaints about centre on the suspension of goods trains which has stopped any passage of goods such as coal and fertilizers causing a blackout in the state.
Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, General secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union (ekta ugrahan), informed reporters of the blockade at 35 places throughout Punjab as part of the nationwide ‘Chakka jam’ protest.
Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of Kisan mazdoor sangharsh committee, said their people have blocked road at 45 places in 10 districts of Punjab. When traffic was diverted by police officials towards solakhian toll plaza in Rupnagar district, farmers blocked that road too.
Bhupinder Longowal, youth state convenor of Kirti Kisan union, said their people have been blocking roads at – Barnala Kanchiya in Sangrur city, ITI chowk Sunam, Grewal Chownk Malerkotla, Kakarwal Chownk Dhuri, Katron Chownk sherpur, Jakhal road Lehra and Sangrur-Patiala road at Bhawanigarh.
Longowal further added, “The members of various bodies have finalized the protest sites and we have blocked the roads. More residents will also join in a short time.”
Protest oversaw the participation of children and the elderly. A farmer named Balwinder Singh from Sargur told that these newly introduced laws would ruin the farming sector.
Jagmohan Singh, General Secretary of BKU Dakaunda said, “We would not end protest till the rollback of the latest laws…though the central government has done it, Punjab government is also not serious and they are doing politics rather than taking concrete steps.”
Though the call for ‘Bharat Bandh’ evoked no response in Ludhiana City, the three main highways around the city – Ludhiana-Chandigarh road at Kohara, Jalandhar-Ludhiana GT road at Ladhowal toll plaza, Ludhiana-Ferozepur NH at Chowki Mann – were blocked by farmers.
Bharti Kisan Union led hundreds of farmers and blocked the vehicular traffic at 12:00 noon. BKU-Kadian activists were checking on the GT road near Ladhowal Toll Plaza while the farmers blocked the vehicular traffic at Chowki Mann after showing protests at Akahra Canal Bridge.
Patiala saw major highways linked to city blocked during the protests. Protests by the organization BKU Dakaunda was organized at the Toll plaza Shutrana, Passiana, at Banda bahadur chowk in Samana and the toll plaza near village Kalyan, Shambhu among other places.
In Rajpura thermal power plant, the protest was monitored in the presence of Ugrahan group. At shambhu, around 3,000 people were present during the protest which included women and children in large numbers.
BKU Dakaunda’s Sucha Singh said about 9 places on highways on which they are holding protests. He further added, “Farmers from all nearby areas and villages are participating in the protest at their nearby locations.”
Patiala city remained open during the highway blockades and the traffic was comparatively low in Patiala and Nabha.
Moga district also saw some blockades by farmer’s organizations on the call of ‘Bharat bandh’. Moga-Ferozepur NH was blocked by the farmer’s outfits – Kirti Kisan Union, BKU(Kaddian), BKU(Mann) – in front of the Mini secretariat in Moga city.
Tarlochan Singh gill, former president of BJPs Kisan cell, who recently resigned from BJP over the controversial farm bills, also joined in on the protest.
BKU ekta ugrahan activists protested in front of the silo of Adani group of industries at village Dagru, where around 1000 farmers gathered, including children and women, and they blocked the Moga-Ferozpur Highway.
Moga-Bathinda highway was blocked by, the Kirti Kissan Union, Naujwan Bharat Sabha, BKU (Lakhowal), Aartia Association Block Baghapurana, and they also staged protest in the main chowk of Baghapurana town.
A protest was also staged in the main chowk at Nihal Singh wala town by, the BKU (Lakhowal), CPI, Narega Rujgar Prapti Union, All India Anganwari Worker/Helper union and many other trade unions who also supported the farmer’s agitation over the ordinances.
Protest staged near Baba Gendi Raam at Dharamkot town and the Moga-Jalandhar highway was blocked by the organizations – Kul Hind Kissan Sabha (CPI), BKU (Kadian), BKU (Maan).
Activists of BKU (Rajewal), BKU (Maan) organized a protest in Baba Nidhan Singh Chowk at KotiseKhan town and blocked the Moga-Amritsar highway.
Activists of BKU Ekta faction blocked the Moga-Kotkapura highway at Toll Plaza outside the Chand Purana village and raised slogans against the NDA government.
Actor Yograj Singh joined this protest for 5 minutes and then moved towards Kotakpura side to join other protests. BKU (Krantikari) of District Moga staged a protest on the main bus stand at Ajitwal and blocked Moga-Ludhiana highway. The Kirti Kissan Union Block Moga sat on a dharna on the Railway Track at village Dagru in the Moga district. The Kissan Sangarsh Committee (Piddi Group) staged a protest in front of the Church in Moga city and blocked the Moga-Amritsar highway. Earlier, they planned the sit-in infront of DC office complex at Moga but they shifted their sit-in protest to the front of Church, Moga to Moga-Amritsar road, later.
The CPI blocked the Moga-Barnala national highway and staged a protest at Badhni Kalan. The civil and police officials have claimed that the law and order situation was peaceful and well under control in the district. Sukhdev Singh Kokri, The BKU Ekta General Secretary, while claiming that all the major national and state highways were blocked in the state told that the NDA government needs to acknowledge the fact that the farmers of the state and other parts of the country are against the recently introduced farm legislations. Thus the government must relent and roll back these ‘black laws’, he demanded. He warned about the further intensification of the farmer’s agitation if the NDA government will not draw these legislations back.
AAP leaders hold parallel protest; Farmers unhappy
At Kanhaiya chowk in Bathinda, farmers and the protestors of AAP headed by district president Navdeep Singh Jeeda got involved in heated arguments. Farmers accused the AAP leaders of holding a parallel protest at the place while the AAP leaders denied holding any such thing.
The information about the reason of the heated spat between the two groups is said to be, AAP leaders reached the protest site and started shouting slogans which irked the farmers and thus, they told the AAP leaders to go away.
Farmers blocked NH-44 in Haryana near Karnal’s Raipur Roran Village. Protests is staged by the farmers from – Karnal, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Yamunangar and Panchkula.
Ayush Sinha, SDM of Karnal had to talk with farmers to remove the blockade from NH-44, a lot of police personnel were also deployed to control the law and order situation and contain any chaos or violence. DC Nishant Kumar Yadav assured about the diversion and maintaining a smooth flow of traffic.
Farmers are protesting over the newly introduced three farm laws – Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 (which allows of agricultural produce outside mandis regulated by state constituted APMCs), The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 (allows contract farming), and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020 (deregulates the production, supply, distribution of food items like cereals, pulses, potatoes, onion and edible oilseeds).
Source – The Tribune
