Farmers continue siege of three Majha bridges, block highways Traffic on key routes comes to a halt, leaving commuters harried even as authorities’ claimed to have diverted vehicle movement on various stretches
AMRITSAR/LUDHIANA/PHAGWARA: Hundreds of farmers under the banner of the Kisan Sangharsh Committee continued to block three major bridges on the Beas river in the Majha region for the second consecutive day on Tuesday against the central government’s three agriculture ordinances.
Due to the blockade of the Harike bridge connecting Majha and Malwa, the Beas bridge on the Amritsar-Delhi highway and the Hargobindpur bridge in Gurdaspur, thousands of commuters were hassled. Long lines of stranded trucks and other vehicles was seen on both sides of the bridges.
The farmers were seen taking meals to the protest site. Hundreds with their tractor-trailers were also seen joining the protest on Tuesday. The farmer leaders said their protest would continue until they get assurance regarding the revocation of the agriculture ordinances.
Addressing the protesters in Amritsar’s Beas, committee’s general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said, “We don’t want to harass the commuters, but the governments have left us with no option. The ordinances are not only against the farming community, but also against every Indian. These ordinances, which were presented in Parliament on the first day of the ongoing Monsoon session, are only in favour of the corporate sector. The Central government is trying to make the Indian farmers landless by making this legislation, but we will not let it happen.”
At the Harike bridge, committee’s state president Satnam Singh Pannu said, “These ordinances were introduced to give benefit to the corporate sector close to the influential leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is an ally of the BJP, should take a tough stance on the issue. The Akali leaders are shedding crocodile tears on the issue.”
Truck drivers stage parallel protest
Drivers of hundreds of trucks, which have been stuck on both sides of the Beas bridge for the last two days, staged a parallel protest against the farmers. The drivers impeded the movement of the farmers’ vehicles towards the bridge for at least two hours in the evening. The truck drivers threatened to intensify their protest on Wednesday if they were not allowed to move. They said due to the coronavirus pandemic they have already been suffering huge losses.
Apprehending the possibility of a clash between the truck drivers and the farmers, a heavy police force was deployed there.
“We have made adequate arrangements for the movement of commuters thorough alternate routes. But there was a problem for heavy vehicles,” said Amritsar superintendent of police (SP investigation) Gaurav Toora.
Farmers blocked the National Highway (NH -44) at Khanna in Ludhiana district for two hours in protest against farmer ordinance.
The farmers first blocked the Doraha-Neelon road and then marched towards Khanna where they were joined by arhtiyas and other labour organisations. During the blockade of the highway, they allowed passage to emergency vehicles only. Later, the police got cleared the traffic jam on NH-44. Congress MLA Gurkirat Singh Kotli also joined the protesting farmers and expressed his party’s support to the cause of farmers.
‘Won’t allow MPs supporting bills to enter villages’
“MPs who support these farm bills in Parliament will not be allowed to enter villages and we will teach him a lesson,” warned Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal who was holding an agitation along with other farmers at Neelon.
In Moga, some agitating farmers wore black robes while some of them tied a noose around their necks.
Traffic between J al and ha rP hagw ara-Ludhiana, Ph ag war aNakoda rand Ph agwa ra-Na wan shah r-Chandigarh was blocked, causing inconvenience to commuters.
At Phagwara, farmers blocked the national highway-44 near the Sugar Mill Chowk. At 11am, over 2,000 farmers started a protest march and blocked both sides of the highway to mark their protest.
Also, farm labourers, arhtiyas and those connected with agricultural activities participated in the protest. Traffic movement was hit, with police diverting commuters to other routes. There were long queues in the service lane.
(With agency inputs)