Tribune news service
Bathinda / Moga / Fazilka, October 1
Intensifying their agitation against the new farm laws, farmers today blocked roads and railroads throughout the state as part of their ‘rail roko’ agitation.
Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, general secretary of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta) claimed that farmers blocked roads at 27 locations and railways in Dhablan (Patiala), Sunam (Sangrur), Budhlada (Mansa) Gidderbaha (Muktsar), Dagru (Moga ) and various other places. Farmers also organized sit-ins outside toll plazas in Sangrur, Barnala, Moga, and Gurdaspur, in addition to performing dharnas outside fuel dispensers and shopping centers owned by large corporations. With farmers advancing indefinitely, the Ferozepur Railway Division has suspended at least 25 trains in Punjab, J&K and Himachal Pradesh.
village on the Bathinda-Chandigarh road. Tribune photos
HC seeks Report on removal of lock
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked for a report on the removal of roadblocks that impede the flow of traffic on roads and rail lines following protests by farmers. The court has also requested the measures taken by the state of Punjab and the instructions issued in this regard.
In Bathinda, responding to the call of 31 farmers’ unions, farmers protested at the toll plazas of the Bathinda-Chandigarh National Highway near Lehra Bega village and on the Bathinda-Amritsar National Highway near Jeeda village.
Farmers protested at a Reliance and Essar utility and gas pump store near the Bhucho Mandi and Rampura areas. Members of various factions of the BKU and various other farmers’ unions also blocked the tracks of the Bathinda-Delhi railway line and sat in a dharna.
“Our agitation will continue until the Union Government removes our apprehensions regarding farm laws. It is shocking that the Center has not even entrusted and rushed us to pass the legislation, ”said Shingara Singh Mann, President of BKU (Ugrahan).
Also in Moga, farmers and farm workers blocked a railway track and protested in front of a silo owned by Adani Farm Logistics in Dagru village. Another group of farmers organized a protest at the Moga-Bathinda road toll plaza near Singhawala village.
The protesters also organized a dharna in front of a gasoline pump owned by the Reliance Group of Companies in the village of Rajeana. They urged people to boycott Reliance-owned gasoline pumps in support of their cause.
In Fazilka, representatives of seven trade unions of farmers and workers began their indefinite dharna by erecting a tent on a railway track. The protesters also put gherao on the Reliance gas pump on the Fazilka-Ferozepur highway near Jalalabad.
