Patiala: Farmers block road to Chandigarh

Ravneet Singh

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Patiala, November 16

The road connecting Chandigarh and Patiala remained blockeded on Wednesday due to a protest by farmer unions associated with the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM). As a result, the district police had to make special arrangements for the traffic movement. Though the commuters were inconvenienced, major snarl-ups were averted.

Commuters inconvenienced

They are protesting against the government, but it is the general public that is being harassed — A commuter

Farmer unions associated with the SKM, including the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta), Sidhupur, held a protest at the Dhareri Jattan toll plaza, demanding a compensation for not burning crop residue and withdrawal of police cases registered against farmers.

The protest began in the afternoon and continued till evening. As a result, the commuters on the road extending from Chandigarh to Patiala through Rajpura and further connecting to Sangrur, Bathinda and other parts of Punjab, were left hassled and had to take alternate routes.

The non-political SKM had given a call to protest at several sites such as the Dhareri Jattan toll plaza on the Rajpura-Patiala road, Faridkot-Tehna T-point, the Bhandari flyover in Amritsar, and flyovers in Mansa, Mukerian and Talwandi Sabo. The union suggested people not to take these specific routes.

Swarn Singh, Patiala General Secretary of Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta), Sidhupur, said the farmers had raised a number of demands with the state government, but the demands were not fulfilled. He said, “The government has failed to provide compensation to farmers for not burning crop residue. The farmers are forced to burn the paddy straw as its management by another means is not feasible without government grants. Instead, they are sending notices to farmers for burning the residue.”

He said the other demands of the farmers include timely functioning of the sugarcane mills in the state and withdrawal of police cases registered against the farmers. He said, “Despite assuring us, the government has failed to withdraw cases registered against farmers during protests and for burning crop residue.”

Meanwhile, a commuter, who was stranded mid-way said, “They are protesting against the government, but it is the general public that is being harassed.”

Police officials, including SP and DSP (rural) remained stationed at the protest site. The police redirected the traffic from Bahadurgarh to the Daun Kalan road and towards Ghanour. SHO Harshveer Singh said major traffic problems were averted. “We had redirected the traffic from the morning itself.”

Later in the evening, the farmer unions partially opened the toll plaza for the commuters. They said they will continue their protest at night as well.