ROAD, HIGHWAY PROTESTS HELD NATIONWIDE
Massive response in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan; scores of protesters briefly held in parts of nation
NEW DELHI: The three-hour “chakka jam” by farm unions was carried out across states on Saturday, as protesters blocked key highways in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, and road blockades were reported from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
Several highways, including Amritsar-pathankot, Bathindachandigarh, Panchkula-pinjore and Ambala-chandigarh were blocked on Saturday.
NEW DELHI: The three-hour chakka jam (traffic halt) call by farm unions protesting the three agricultural laws evoked huge response on Saturday in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, even as symbolic road blockades were held in other parts of the country. The unions, however, withdrew the call for blockade in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi citing inputs regarding some “miscreants trying to disrupt peace”.
Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India, who is part of Samyukt Kisan Morcha, said they have received reports of traffic being halted in almost every state and the entire protest was peaceful.
Rakesh Takait of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, however, alleged that attempts by miscreants to discredit the protests in some areas were thwarted by volunteers. “Because of these inputs, we had decided to call off the ‘chakka jam’ in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” the 51-year-old Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader, credited with reviving the farmers’ stir, said. He also declared that the protest on the outskirts of the Capital will continue till October 2 and an effort will be made to “connect every village” with the agitation. He asked farmers to take soil from Ghazipur border to their farmland as a symbolic gesture to express solidarity.
For 72 days, farm unions have camped outside Delhi demanding repeal of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, which farmers say favour big corporations. The Centre has refuted the concerns, and offered to put the laws on hold for 18 months, but talks are currently locked in a stalemate.
Scores of protesters were also briefly detained by the police in several states on Saturday for blocking roads. Farm leaders said protesters stalled traffic on roads in parts of Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karanataka. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere. “At 42 places in Karnataka, the protests were held and police took farmers into custody.”
Raising slogans against the Centre, many farmers parked their tractor-trailers or squatted in the middle of roads in Punjab and Haryana, blocking several highways, including the Chandigarh-zirakpur, Amritsar-pathankot, Tarn Taran-kapurthala, Ferozepur-fazilka, Muktsar-kotkapura, Bathinda-chandigarh, Ludhiana-jalandhar, Panchkulapinjore and Ambala-chandigarh highway. Protests were also held at Shambhu near Ambala and at many toll plazas. “The protest was completely peaceful,” said Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan. “Around 6,000 to 7,000 protesters on an average took part in Chakka Jam each place,” he added.
In Haryana, traffic was blocked on almost all national and state highways for three hours. Rustic farmer songs were played and people perched atop truck-tractors hoisted the tricolour on the KMP Expressway even as biscuits and fruits were distributed to the protesting farmers and those stranded.
In Rajasthan, farmers at many places including Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Dholpur and Jhalawar stalled traffic on the highways and main roads and held demonstrations, police said.
Protests were also staged in Maharashtra’s Karad and Kolhapur. At least 40 protesters, including Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan’s wife Satvasheela Chavan, were detained in Karad, a police official said. Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna leader Raju Shetti and others were detained briefly in Kolhapur.
In Telangana, police said several people were taken into preventive custody. Similar reports came from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu where farmers blocked highways in different parts.