Aged protester commits suicide at Badal village

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, September 18

A day after the Lok Sabha passed two more contentious farm Bills, despite BJP ally SAD terming these “anti-farmer”, an elderly farmer from Mansa district committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance during a protest at Badal village today.

Pritam Singh was taken to the Civil Hospital at the village and later shifted to a private hospital in Bathinda, where he died later in the evening, said Shingara Singh Mann, state secretary, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan). Sources said the victim’s family was under Rs 10 lakh debt.

A large number of farmers, including women, have been lodging their protest since September 15 by pitching a tent near the Badals’ residence at the village.

Earlier, Mann said: “One of the protesters, Pritam Singh, from Akkanwali village in Mansa district this morning consumed some poisonous substance at the protest site, a reflection of how the Centre had forced the farmers to die. He had been protesting from day one.” Meanwhile, a large number of cops had been deployed at the village and the road to the Badals’ residence barricaded.

Protest extended till September 25

The farmers, already on a six-day protest, on Friday decided to extend it by five days i.e. till September 25. Shingara Singh Mann, state secretary, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), said Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s resignation as Union Minister was a mere drama and they had now extended the protest by five days.