Farmers protest forced eviction

Farmers and labourers, under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and other allied organisations, staged a four-hour-long sit-in outside the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office in Amritsar. The demonstration was organised to protest the recent action of the Punjab Police at Shambhu and Khanauri borders, where force was allegedly used to dismantle protest camps.

Leaders of the protesting organisations condemned the Punjab government’s forced eviction of farmers from protest sites and demanded compensation for the damage caused to their belongings. They urged the government to immediately stop its crackdown on farmers and address their long-standing demands. The protesters highlighted that farmers have been staging protests at Punjab’s borders for over 13 months now, pressing for the acceptance of their demands. The leaders insisted that the Punjab government should be held accountable for the financial losses suffered by the farmers due to the forced removal. They also demanded an immediate halt to police repression and the fulfillment of their demands without further delay.

Thousands of farmers and labourers joined the demonstration, demanding the revocation of the membership of MLA Gurlal Singh Ghanaur. They also called for compensation amounting to crores for the damages incurred at the Shambhu and Khanauri protest sites. Additionally, they insisted that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should publicly apologise for the police action and for allegedly deceiving farmers before their arrest on March 19.

Leaders of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Punjab, including its president Sukhwinder Singh Sabhra, general secretary Rana Ranbir Singh and state leader Satnam Singh Pannu, issued a press statement condemning the arrest of farmer leaders at 2:30 am. They demanded that the Chief Minister seek a formal apology from the state’s 3 crore citizens for the betrayal of trust and wrongful arrests. They further stated that the government’s decision to release the detained farmers was a weak attempt to recover from its tarnished public image. The protesting leaders also declared that if their demands were not met, the demonstrations outside the residences of ministers and legislators would commence on March 31. These protests, if unresolved, would escalate into an indefinite morcha.

The farmer leaders demanded that the Punjab government compensate them for the losses suffered at the protest sites, amounting to crores. They also insisted on the immediate filing of an FIR against those involved in the theft of their belongings. They also called for the arrest and cancellation of MLA Gurlal Singh Ghanaur’s party membership.