Dharam Yudh Morcha: Punjab farmers make Ladhowal toll plaza free for commuters

Members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur) made the state’s expensive Ladhowal toll barrier free for commuters on Friday. They expressed anger against the state government for adopting a dilly-dallying attitude in bringing a law mandating stringent punishment for suspects involved in sacrilege cases. They announced that toll barriers across Punjab have been made free for commuters and the toll company would not be allowed to collect any fee from the commuters.

To maintain the law and order situation, police personnel from the Ladhowal police station were also deployed in large numbers. Initially, the police tried to convince the farmers that they should not make the barrier free for commuters as the firm will incur huge losses but farmers did not listen to them.

The farmers started the protest at 12.10 pm. They removed barriers from the toll plaza, allowing vehicles to pass without paying toll tax.

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Karamjit Singh, member of the BKU (Sidhupur), said the protest was being held under the banner of Dharam Yudh Morcha. The morcha had been supporting the agitation of Gurjeet Singh Khalsa, who has been sitting atop the 400-ft water tank at Samana, Patiala, since October 13, 2024. As Khalsa had been demanding strict law to seek stringent punishment in incidents of sacrilege of religious symbols and scriptures of all religions, the BKU also stood by the demand and would continue the agitation in the state.

“The state government had also promised that a committee to draft a law mandating stringent punishment against suspects involved in sacrilege cases was also made but over seven months have passed and the panel has not made any report public. It is the right time that Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann should speak about the report of the committee, else farmer organisations would not step back and intensify their agitation against the government,” he said.

Gurinder Singh, a member of the BKU (Sidhupur), said when AAP came to power in the state, CM Mann had assured that people involved in sacrilege cases would not be spared and strict law would be enacted for the same but nothing was happened on the ground.”

“The government should not take our movement lightly and our brother Gurjeet Singh Khalsa had been holding a protest for over 16 months now. The BKU (Sidhupur) had already announced support for him. The government should step up and fulfill our demands, else farmer organisations would intensify the agitation,” he said.

SHO, Ladhowal police station, inspector Amritpal Singh, said the protest was started at noon and lifted at 4 pm. The toll barrier was made functional after the protest.