Farmer union plans statewide protests over key demands

The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) on Saturday announced a series of statewide protests in Punjab over multiple unresolved issues, including opposition to the Electricity Amendment Bill 2025, pending sugarcane dues and the government’s alleged inaction on key farmer demands.

Addressing a press conference in Amritsar, senior farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said the decisions were taken during the KMM’s meeting held on November 7, where several major protest programmes were finalised in light of the ongoing agrarian and labour distress.

Pandher said farmers would participate in the Punjab University gathering on November 10 to oppose what he called the Centre’s “attempt to take control” of the university. On November 14, the Morcha will extend support to the National March for Justice in Delhi.

As part of their protest against the Electricity Amendment Bill 2025, effigy-burning demonstrations will be organised across Punjab at the village level on November 15, 16, and 17. On November 18, the KMM will stage a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Jalandhar to demand payment of pending sugarcane dues. If the issue remains unresolved, the Jalandhar-Delhi Highway will be blocked on November 21.

Further intensifying their agitation, Pandher announced that on December 10, farmers will remove prepaid electricity meters and deposit them at electricity department offices across the state. On December 17 and 18, dharnas will be held outside all Deputy Commissioners’ offices demanding compensation for damages suffered at the Shambhu and Khanoori morchas and withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2025. If demands are ignored, a statewide rail roko agitation will be launched on December 19.

Pandher added that members of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee had participated in large numbers in a recent protest march by electricity department employees in Tarn Taran. He also criticised the government for imposing fines and registering cases against farmers for stubble burning without providing adequate equipment such as balers and support machinery.