In Abohar, street vendors too abstain from work

Our Correspondent

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Abohar, December 8

Milk and vegetable vendors also responded to the Bharat bandh call here on Tuesday. All markets remained shut, roads wore a deserted look, vehicles remained off the road and street vendors too didn’t turn up. All medical stores remained closed till 11 am, while some opened later.

Most of the private schools were closed as the Recognised and Affiliated Schools Association supported the call, while attendance in government schools in higher classes was thin. Meanwhile, students of Classes IX and XI who turned up to appear in the biannual tests had to face inconvenience as the Education Department, as per its old practice, had not taken a timely decision to postpone the exams. Many govt teachers complained they were stuck at the Malout bypass because some farmers started the dharna at 9 am instead of the scheduled time of 11 am. They were, however, allowed to proceed after half an hour.

On the other hand, hundreds of Congress workers staged a dharna at the Alamgarh bypass and blocked the Abohar-Sriganganagar highway. PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar’s nephew Sandeep Jakhar warned the Centre that it should stop punishing “Punjabiyat” and farmers. He said today’s bandh had proved that everyone was standing with the farmers and against the BJP-led Centre. “If the issue is not resolved in Wednesday’s talks then a large number of farmers from Abohar and Balluana constituencies will go to the Delhi border in support of the stir,” he added.

Farmers also blocked traffic at Khuyiansarwer and Rajpura terminals on the highways for four hours. An effigy of PM Narendra Modi government was burnt at the new Grain Market by the Dhanak Mazdoor Tola Union.