BKU steps up drive to mobilise farmers
BATHINDA: The crowd at various sites of protest by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) started swelling on Sunday as a mark to express solidarity with veteran farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal on his second day of fast unto death.
Leaders of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Ekta Sidhupur) said they have intensified the drive to mobilise farmers to join the agitation that entered its fifth day today.
The call of protest continues to affect traffic in pockets of Mansa, Bathinda, Faridkot, Amritsar, Patiala and Hoshiarpur districts as traffic is being diverted to rural roads.
Dallewal was joined by union’s treasurer Maghar Singh, a resident of Ferozepur, last night at the protest site in Faridkot. Union leaders said the health of the fasting leaders was found stable by the doctors attending them.
District president of the Faridkot unit of BKU Bohar Singh said Delhi-like arrangements are being made to give a befitting reply to chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s statement that farmer unions were habitual in holding protests. “We are getting overwhelming support from the farming community. Today people started coming voluntarily in large groups in tractor-trailers. It is an indicator that farmers are ready to prolong their stay on roads in protest and to give a reply to the comments by the CM and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership of Punjab that unions are unnecessarily creating trouble for the common man,” Singh said.
But, he added, the protest was aimed at pressing the government to implement what it promised since August this year.
The Faridkot district authorities have deputed two doctors to regularly monitor the health of the leaders on fast unto death. An ambulance has been stationed at the protest site on 24-hour duty to handle any emergency situation.
“Union leaders are not demanding any favour for themselves but battling to protect the interests of small and marginal farmers. We were hopeful when the CM assured delegations that farmers who suffered crop loss due to pest attacks and unfriendly climatic conditions this year will be compensated. But instead of fulfilling assurances, the CM and the entire AAP leadership are engaged in mocking at the union and making derogatory allegations against its leaders,” farmer leader at Mansa Lakhvir Singh said.