Farmers protest PM's visit

Gurbaxpuri

Tarn Taran, January 5

The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), Punjab, and other farmer organisations had given the call to oppose the visit of the Prime Minister. Farmers managed to lodge their resentment peacefully during the Prime Minister Narender Modi’s Ferozepur visit on Wednesday.

Incessant rain, too, failed to deter their spirit as they had made every possible effort to stay for the night at Harike. Farmers arranged for lodging in their tractor-trailers. Special arrangements of cooked food, too, was made at the site.

Dharna in harike

• A convoy of more than 200 tractor-trailers staged a dharna on the Harike road and blocked it on Tuesday
• On Wednesday, when they were ready to leave for Ferozepur, the police stopped them after which they started protesting in Harike

The farmers organised a demonstration in different parts of the district and burnt the effigy of the Union Government.

They blocked roads, too, but when they were apprised about the successful meeting with Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajender Shekhawat, the roads were cleared and protests were shifted to the roadsides. The buses and other vehicles were then allowed to move ahead by the protesters.

A convoy of more than 200 tractor-trailers with hundreds of farmers under the banner of KMSC from the border area villages had left for Ferozepur on Tuesday evening. They were stopped by the district police at Harike Headworks. The farmers had staged a dharna on the Harike road and blocked it on Tuesday. They remained on the road for the entire night.

On Wednesday morning, however, when they were ready to leave for Ferozepur, the police stopped them after which they started protesting in Harike.

Farmers under the leadership of Sukhwinder Singh Sabhra had a tough time with the police, as they wanted to proceed to Ferozepur. Sabhra condemned the Union Government and demanded for the rollback of criminal cases registered against farmers and compensation for families whose members lost their lives in the Delhi morcha. Other demands, too, were raised. They burnt the effigy of the Union Government as well. Farmers blocked the National Highway No. 54 at Rasulpur T-Point in protest against Modi’s visit to Ferozepur.

Protests were organised in Jhabal and other villages as well. Tight security arrangements as claimed by the district police completely failed to pacify farmers from Amritsar and Tarn Taran.

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