Commuters get respite from toll tax as farmers protest

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Amritsar, August 24

The protest by the farmers at toll plazas for the release of their leaders arrested by the police entered the fourth day on Thursday. The farmers are not ready to end their stir till all protesters are released.

Back to back meetings with the civil and police administration during the last 24 hours have failed to find a solution to the prevailing logjam.

Satnam Singh Manochalal, a leader of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), which is leading the protest in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, said the number of men and women farmers joining the protest was increasing with each passing day.

The KMSC leaders said a some of their leaders, who were arrested on August 21, had been released from the Patti sub-jail today. However, the unions had not yet taken the decision to withdraw the protest till all farmers were released, they said.

The farmer leaders said the people had suffered huge losses due to floods in the state and they had the right to demand compensation for the loss and protest peaceful if the government denied the same. The KMSC had also demanded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a job for one person of the family of Pritam Singh, who died at Longowal, during the ongoing protest.

The farmers are also continuing their protest at the Mannawala toll plaza on the Amritsar-Jalandhar highway. The protest has provided huge relief to the commuters as they have no longer to pay the hefty toll fee.