Farm unions protest concrete lining of Kandi canal bed

Hoshiarpur, June 11

Various farm, religious and social organisations today tried to gherao the residence of Cabinet Minister MLA Brahm Shankar Jimpa against laying tarpaulin and concrete lining of Kandi canal bed from Talwara to Balachaur.

The protesters were stopped by cops at the main gate of the colony and the dharna at Mastiwal village continued for the 18th day.

Jangveer Singh Chouhan, chief , Doaba Kisan Committee and Manjot Singh Talwandi, president, Shri Baba Deep Singh Seva Dal Welfare Society said double layer tarpaulin and concrete bed of the Kandi canal would cause a lot of trouble to people of this belt, especially farmers.

The protesters said there was no logic in constructing 25 “Gau Ghats” in the 140-km long Kandi canal. They demanded that the canal’s bed should be left kutcha, more cowsheds should be constructed, farmers should be allowed to carry water from the canal and reservoirs should be enlarged.

They said as the borewells were drying, the unpaved canal bed would recharge the groundwater. The protesters also sought quashing of an FIR registered against a farmer wherein a child died after falling into the borewell.

They said the farmer had covered the bore with a lid, but the incident happened due to the theft of the lid by drug addicts.

Meanwhile, Jimpa met the protesters and assured them that he would take up the matter with the department. He said that he would not let the farmers face any kind of trouble.

Swaran Singh Dhugga of Bharti Kisan Union (Qadian), Noblejit Singh from Awaaz-e-Qaum, Gurdeep Singh Briana from Mazdoor Union (Garhdiwala), sarpanch Karnail Singh, Harvel Singh, Nirmal Singh, Manjit Kaur from the CITU and Naginder Singh were also present on the occasion.