Farmers block highways in several states as part of stir
Chandigarh/Jaipur/Bho pal, June 16: Protesting farmers on Friday blocked some national highways in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha disrupting traffic as part of a countrywide stir over issues concerning the farming community.
Tractors were parked at several places on the highways even as police arrested scores of protesters including a former RSS leader in Madhya Pradesh.
A group of 62 farmers’ unions had earlier announced that traffic will be blocked for three hours on all national highways across the country on Friday in protest against the death of five farmers in police firing in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh and failure of the Centre to provide relief to ryots.
They also pressed for loan waiver and remunerative prices for farm produce.
Various farmers’ outfits under the banner of Navanirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) observed a two-hour symbolic shutdown across Odisha.
In Madhya Pradesh, farmers under the aegis of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh (RKMS) led by a former RSS leader blocked roads in various districts as part of a bandh called by them in protest against the Mandsaur firing.
RKMS national president Shiv Kumar Sharma, popularly known as “Kakkaji”, was arrested along with seven other farmer leaders when he was going to block the Jabalpur-Jaipur national highway near Misrod area on the outskirts of Bhopal, police said.
In Indore, 20 protesters, including farmers and members of some Leftist parties, were arrested under section 151 of the CrPc when they were trying to stop traffic.