7,000 Punjab farmers converge on Chandigarh as House session begins

SKM outfits leave after ‘mahapanchayat’ | BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) to stay put till Sept 5

Amit Sharma

Updated At : 08:46 AM Sep 03, 2024 IST

Farmers hold a protest over their demands in Chandigarh on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: RAVI KUMAR

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 2

Nearly 15 years after the Chandigarh Administration banned large protests in the UT, around 7,000 farmers from Punjab have arrived in the heart of the city to raise their demands. The protest coincides with the three-day Punjab Assembly session, which got underway today.

First big protest in UT since 2009
The UT move to allow a large farm protest in the heart of the city has come as a surprise. In 2009, the venue for large protests was shifted from Matka Chowk near Sector 17 to Sector 25 on the city outskirts. A similar protest by farmers and other groups was disallowed in 2023. The court had to intervene to get a road reopened on the Mohali border. However, smaller protests by employee groups, trade unions and political parties continued to be held.
SC forms panel to end Shambhu impasse
The SC on Monday set up a high-powered committee headed by Justice Nawab Singh, former judge of the Punjab & Haryana HC, to amicably resolve the grievances of farmers protesting at the Shambhu border. A Bench led by Justice Surya Kant said the other members of the panel would be PS Sandhu, ex-Haryana DGP; Devender Sharma, Professor of Eminence, GND University; Prof Ranjit Singh Ghuman; & Dr Sukhpal Singh, agri economist at PAU.

Farmers from various unions, including the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan), are camping at the Sector 34 ground on the Dakshin Marg after being granted permission by the Deputy Commissioner. This has led to significant public inconvenience and traffic disruptions.

Questions are being raised over the UT decision since a similar protest by farmers and other groups was disallowed by the authorities in 2023. The court had to intervene to get a road reopened on the Mohali-Chandigarh border.

A large group of farmers owing allegiance to the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) and Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union today marched down to the ‘Matka Chowk, a designated site close to the Assembly, where they lodged a protest and handed over their list of demands to Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian.

While the farmers affiliated with unions linked to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella organisation of 32 organisations, left the city after holding a ‘mahapanchayat’ in Sector 34 and handing over a memorandum to a senior officer in the Chief Minister’s Office.

The SKM will take a call on its future course of action in November, while the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) will stay put till September 5. The BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan), the most prominent farmer union, is demanding a ‘New Farmer Policy’ to address agriculture-related woes. It wants cases against farm leaders during previous agitations dropped, besides withdrawal of FIRs over stubble burning during the AAP regime. It has further demanded levy of a special tax on rich landlords, moneylenders and corporate houses for farmer-friendly policy. The SKM has sought a policy to prevent falling groundwater level.

The UT move has come as a surprise as it in 2009 shifted the venue for large protests and rallies from the Matka Chowk near Sector 17 to Sector 25, on the city outskirts, in the wake of inconvenience caused to public. However, smaller protests by employee groups, trade unions, and political parties continued to be held.

Making an exception, the administration on August 31 allowed the farm unions to camp in Sector 34 for five days. DC Vinay Pratap Singh could not be contacted for comment.

Sources said the unions initially wanted to protest in Sector 17, but the authorities proposed alternative sites, including Sector 25, but the unions remained adamant. The administration finally allocated them the Sector 34 site.

A senior police official said nearly 2,500 UT Police personnel and 1,500 from the Punjab Police had been deputed in Sector 34.

In 2009, a protest by farm organisations, including the BKU (Ugrahan), and employees of the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board had turned violent at the Sector 16/17 chowk, leaving 50 injured. This prompted the UT to shift the site to Sector 25. A farm expert said: “The farmers’ movement lost face when its leaders decide to contest elections and lost security deposits. They need to reinvent.”