Farmers' protest: Commuters face tough time in Patiala

Tribune News Service

Patiala, August 29

Farmers protesting the lathicharge on their Haryana counterpart jammed all roads leading to Patiala, including the Patiala-Rajpura, Patiala-Nabha and Patiala-Sirhind roads on Sunday.

Commuters had a tough time due to the blockade. A few ambulances were seen stuck on their way. A number of aspirants missed their competitive exams. A few youngsters who were on their way to Chandigarh claimed they were getting late for the cooperative bank exam. Some of them were allowed to pass through the blockade while others remained stuck.

The protests were led by BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), BKU (Krantikari) and other unions. Their members didn’t allow vehicles to pass through the protest sites, leading to long traffic jams.

Farmers also blocked the roads near Bahadurgarh on the Patiala-Rajpura road, at Hardaspur village on the Patiala-Sirhind road and near Rohti bridge at Nabha. The roads leading to Ghanaur, Sanour and Samana were also jammed for over two hours.

Flaying the police action, protesters demanded that the Duty Magistrate who issued the lathicharge order should be dismissed. BKU (Krantikari) district president Ranjit Sawajpur said: “We had already announced a convention at the Dhareri Jattan toll plaza.” The protests ended at 2 pm.

In Ropar, farmers assembled at the toll plazas on Chandigarh road, Anandpur Sahib road and Chamkaur Sahib road around 11 am and blocked them at 12 noon. The Chandigarh-Ludhiana road was also blocked at Morinda bypass. As many as 300 farmers protested at Solakhian toll plaza on the Ropar-Chandigarh road.

(With inputs from Ropar)