Patiala, October 29
On a call given by seven farmer associations, including the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta), the All-India Kirti Kisan Sabha and the Punjab Kisan Sabha, hundreds of farmers blocked GT Road and railway track at Rajpura in protest against ‘indifferent attitude’ of the Central Government towards their demands.
Earlier, the farmers, led by various farmer associations, organised a protest march that passed through the main market of Rajpura and demanded that the Central Government must take immediate measures to ensure that the MSP on paddy was increased and financial relief, in form of waiving of loans, given to the farmers of the state in view of the recent drought in the region.
Criticising the state government, Mr Pishora Singh Sidhu of BKU said the recent decisions of the Congress government regarding the withdrawal of free power to the farming community and hike in the power tariff in domestic consumption would have an adverse impact on the farmers in the state, who were yet to recover from the losses due to the drought. He said the state government must clear the pending payment of sugarcane.
Addressing the farmers, kisan leaders, including Mr Sukhdev Singh Duggal of the Punjab Kisan Sabha, alleged that both previous and present state governments had failed to devise any concrete strategy to improve the financial condition of the farmers.
AMRITSAR: Road and rail traffic remained suspended for nearly 3 hours while at least two trains Shan-e-Punjab and Chhattisgarh arrived hours late due to protest dharnas by at least seven farmer organisations. Hundreds of farmers blocked vehicular traffic and hold dharnas on railway tracks at both railway stations here. Farmers were joined in by Akali Dal (Mann) workers. Agitated farmers also staged a dharna in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner. However, the PRO Department stated that poor response was witnessed to the call for bandh and police had foiled attempts to disrupt rail and road traffic by farmers. Mr Rattan Singh Randhawa, president of the Democratic Kisan Sabha, Punjab, said farmers were being repressed by the government.
FARIDKOT: A large number of farmers of the district along with Bharti Kisan Union, Punjab, blocked rail and road traffic on the Faridkot-Talwandi road for two hours here today in protest against the state government’s decision to withdraw free power and water supply facility and
other ‘anti-farmer’ policies in the state. Addressing the agitators, Mr Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, state president of the union, announced that a meeting of the body had been convened in Ludhiana for November 15 to decide the future course of action for defending the cause of the farmers more effectively.
He made it clear that the farmers would not hesitate to launching agitations if the government fixed the rates of their different produces according to the price index of the other items. Criticising the government for releasing the water to Rajasthan recently, Mr Lakhowal said the union had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the decision of the state government.
JALANDHAR: Workers of farmers’ organisations blocked traffic at a number of places in the district for two hours. Workers of the Punjab Kisan Sabha, CPI, CPM, CPI (M-L), BSP (K) blocked traffic at Nakodar, Goraya, Noormahal, Shahkot besides forcing closure of shops at these places between 12 to 2 p.m. They also blocked traffic on the Jalandhar-Pathankot road near Bhogpur, where they raised slogans against the state government.
RAMPURA PHUL (Bathinda): Activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta) blocked railway traffic here in protest against the alleged apathy of the control and the state government towards the farmers. Mr Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, state general secretary of the union, alleged that all political parties had been cheating the farming community.
The activists led by Mr Jhanda Singh Jethuke, district president of the union, blocked railway traffic and some of the trains had to be diverted. The district authorities had deployed heavy police force.
DHURI: More than 300 activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta), the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha and the Punjab Kisan Sabha, including 50 women activists, here blocked railway traffic for about three hours. Railway traffic on the Ludhiana-Hisar, and Ludhiana-Ambala (via Dhuri) sections of Northern Railway remained suspended from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm due to a dharna by the protesters on the Dhuri-Ludhiana railway crossing.
The railway authorities had to stop 4 LJH Ludhiana-Hisar at the Himtana railway station, 3 LJH Hisar-Ludhiana and 1057 Dadar-Amritsar Express at the Dhuri railway station and 1058 Amritsar-Dadar Express at the Malerkotla railway station.
Meanwhile, the bandh call given by seven farmers organisations received no response here. All business establishments and shops remained open and banks, schools and other government offices functioned normally.
