Tractor march in Doaba too, farmers burn CM Mann, Kejriwal's effigies

Farmers from Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur, Phagwara and Kapurthala held a massive protest against the land pooling scheme introduced by the Aam Aadmi Party government in the state.

In Jalandhar Cantt villages where about 1,000-acre land is to be acquired, the farmers gathered in huge numbers this morning. They started their tractor march around 11 am and started heading towards the PUDA office in the city to register the protest. Farmers reached the PUDA office with about 200 tractor and 150 jeeps, cars and bikes. They burnt the effigy of Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Finance Minister Harpal Cheema.

Other than the farmers of the affected villages, members of the Doaba Kisan Sangharsh Committee, Kirti Kisan Union, BKU Rajewal and BKU Lakhowal participated in the protest in Jalandhar.

Balwinder Malli Nangal of the Doaba Kisan Sangharsh Committee raised slogans, "Kejriwal bhajao, Punjab bachao." He said he would not let the government take over their land. Santokh Sandhu of the Kirti Kisan Union said, "Our fields are like our mother. We cannot get detached from these. Not just the land owners, a large number of farm labourers would go jobless if the government acquires such huge chunks of agricultural land for urbanisation".

Similarly, 120 farmers of the BKU Doaba riding about 40 tractors and cars took out a march from the affected Bhullarai village to the ADC office in Phagwara and submitted a memorandum to ADC Akshita Gupta against the land pooling scheme.

Similar protests were held by farmers in Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi and Hoshiarpur too. In Hoshiarpur, BKU Doaba state president Manjit Rai led a massive protest from Pur Hiran village.