Farmers’ demands accepted but protest in Longowal continues

Sangrur, August 23

After a meeting between senior police officers and leaders of various farm unions, the Punjab Government today accepted demands of farmers protesting in Longowal.

However, the farmers said they would end their protest after the release of their counterparts and after fixing of a meeting with Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

Jaswinder Singh Longowal, chief, BKU (Azad) said, “Though the state government has accepted our demands, we have asked the authorities to fix our meeting with the Governor so that we can put forth our demands to the central government.”

“We will end our protest only after receiving a letter from the Governor and after the arrested farmers are released,” he said.

He said the demands accepted by the government include Rs 10 lakh financial aid to the family of deceased farmer Pritam Singh and a government job to his family member, up to Rs 2 lakh to injured farmers, repair of damaged vehicles, cancellation of the FIR and release of arrested farmers.

Bhupinder Singh Longowal of the Kirti Kisan Union, said, “The post-mortem examination of Pritam Singh, who died in the police-farmers clash on August 21, will be done in Patiala today.”

On August 21, the farmers had started a protest for flood relief.