Amritsar: Border gates to remain open for farmers from 8 am to 6 pm

Tribune News Service

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, June 9

Following a call given by the Border Area Sangharsh Committee Punjab, farmers from border villages demonstrated against the Border Security Force (BSF) for their alleged ‘anti-farmer’ behaviour and in support of their other demands at the BSF headquarters here today. The farmer leaders demanded that the border gates be kept open from 8 am to 6 pm for farming across the fence at the Indo-Pak border.

A large number of farmers from border villages led by Satnam Singh Ajnala, state president Jamhuri (Democratic) Kisan Sabha Punjab and state general secretary of Border Area Struggle Committee Ratan Singh Randhawa staged a protest in front of the BSF headquarters in Khasa at Attari road.

Satnam Singh Ajnala alleged that the BSF was harassing the farmers in the name of entry across the border fencing. The BSF officials are also harassing the farmers while making identity cards and this practice should be stopped, he demanded.

During the demonstration, district president of the Border Area Kisan Sangharsh Committee, Amritsar Balbir Singh Kakkar, district secretary Maan Singh Muhawa and the leader of the border farmers Mukhtar Singh Muhawa said that the farmers should be allowed to cultivate all crops up to a height of four and a half feet in fields across the fencing.

Later, Sanjay Gaur, DIG, BSF called all farmers to the meeting hall and listened to their grievances. He assured the farmers that there will be no discrimination against anyone. From June 10, all border gates will be open for farmers from 8 am to 6 pm, including Sundays. There will be no restrictions on planting crops. He assured that no one will be harassed during the night curfew alongside the border. The DIG also made it clear that peace-loving farmers will not be disturbed on the pretext of drones and drug trafficking from Pakistan.

#Border Security Force BSF