Two farm unions call off protest after admn’s intervention, BKU (Doaba) to continue dharna

Of the three road blockades that were held on Monday by farmer unions between Jalandhar and Phagwara, two on Jalandhar side ended this evening following the intervention of the local administration.

After about eight hours of squatting on the national highway and blocking it with trucks and tractors, members of the BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) that had organised a dharna at Dhannowali and the BKU (Rajewal) that held a protest near Bath Castle removed barricades around 7 pm this evening.

District president of the BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) at Nawanshahr Balkar Dhindsa said, “We had a meeting with the district administration this evening. We were told that 100 millers had assured to lift our paddy from mandis. We have been assured that within six days, procurement would speed up. On assurance by district officials, we decided to remove the barricades.”

On the other hand, BKU (Doaba) leaders have said their protest would continue indefinitely. The Arhtiya Association Kapurthala, led by its president Naresh Bhardwaj, also joined farmers to block the highway today. The protest got more strength as the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee’s Jalandhar, unit led by Salwinder Singh, also joined in. SSP, Kapurthala, Vatsala Gupta and SDM, Phagwara, Jashanjit Singh reached the dharna site and tried to pacify protesting farmers, but leaders of the BKU (Doaba) remained adamant that until the procurement of paddy is started at the grain market, Phagwara, they would not end their protest. It was decided that about 25 farmers would stay at dharna site even in the night hours.

The farmers also squatted at toll plaza near Chak Bahmanian on the highway between Shahkot and Moga where they ensured that the commuters did not have to pay the toll amount.