Admn agrees to demands, body cremated

Slug: Farmer’s suicide

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 2

Family members of the farmer who allegedly ended his life over the proposed auctioning of the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) land along with members of the BKU, Ekta Ugrahan, called off their protest after the district administration agreed to their demands today. They had demanded Rs 10-lakh compensation, a government job to the kin of the deceased and exemption to repayment of loan. Later, after a postmortem, the body was cremated.

Talking to The Tribune, Singhara Singh Mann, president of BKU, Ekta Ugrahan, said, “A meeting with district administration officials was held today. They have agreed to our demands. A part of the compensation amount was given in the form of a cheque to the family members and the remaining amount will be paid in a week’s time.” Deputy Commissioner B Srinivasan did not respond to repeated calls.

Notably, 55-year-old Joginder Singh Bhola, a resident of Cheema village in Sangrur district, had come to Bathinda and staged a protest outside the plant on Wednesday morning after which he ended his life. Joginder was carrying a placard with a photo of Guru Nanak. The placard read, “Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant is a historic place and I am sacrificing my life to stop it from being sold”.