Lathicharge: Govt puts onus of talks on Karnal admn

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 10

The BJP-JJP government has left it to the Karnal administration to end the stalemate with protesting farmers, who are sitting on a dharna outside the mini secretariat, while politicians, for once, are conspicuous by their absence.

Also read: Punjab farmers join Karnal dharna

Sources say the government finds itself in a spot since no political leader can step forward and negotiate with the protesters.

Senior official must lead talks

The administration take instructions from the top brass in Chandigarh. There is no point of talking to officers in Karnal. We demanded that a senior officer should lead the talks to resolve the matter. — Gurnam S Charuni, BKU Leader

Farmer climbs 40-ft tower

• A 45-year-old farmer, Joginder Singh, climbed a 40-ft-high light tower in Panipat on Friday
• He demanded sacking of former Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha
• Officials appealed to Singh to get down, but he refused
• At 4.20 pm, BKU’s Sonu Malpuria climbed the tower and made Singh talk to Rakesh Tikait and Gurnam Singh Charuni over phone
• After having talked to the leaders, Singh got down at 4.50 pm after 6 hours

Consequently, the onus of brokering a compromise has fallen squarely on the shoulders of officers. While Karnal DC Nishant Yadav and SP Ganga Ram Punia have held several rounds of talks with the farmers since September 7, Commissioner (Karnal Division) Sanjeev Verma also chaired one of the meetings over the last three days.

The protesters, who are demanding that then SDM Ayush Sinha be booked and suspended for his “smash the head of farmers” remark during the August 28 protest in Karnal, today refused to hold talks with the district administration and insisted on the presence of a senior officer.

Later in the day, ACS Devender Singh went to Karnal for talks, which utlimately failed.

Though farmer leaders believe the matter could have been resolved at the level of the district administration as the SP had to register an FIR, the government, they maintain, is stretching the matter by failing to fulfil their demands.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Yogendra Yadav said, “The longer the government takes to decide on the officer, the longer the agitation will stretch.”

State BJP chief Om Prakash Dhankar said the talks were being held between the farmers and the district administration because action against an officer was at the heart of the protest.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.