Police maintaining a vigil during a complete shutdown in Bathinda on Wednesday. (Kulbir Beera/HT photo)
On Tuesday, it was another complete shutdown in Sangrur, Mandi Gobindgarh, Dhuri, Barnala, Sunam, Bahadurgarh, and Patran towns of the Malwa region, with all markets and commercial establishments closed.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shiv Sena, Gau Raksha Dal, Hindu Helpline, and Hindu Raksha Samiti engineered the strike.
On Wednesday, Raminder Singh, commissioner of Faridkot division, visited the factory in Joga and recorded the statements of eyewitnesses. The officials have orders to complete the investigation and hand him a report.
"Chief minister Prakash Singh Badal assured a delegation of the Punjab Gau Sewa Board that the state government would acquire the Joga factory and raise a memorial at its site," a spokesperson of the CM's office has claimed.
Punjab is the first state to have enacted a law for the protection of cows. Anyone selling a cow for slaughter may get up to 10 years of imprisonment under the Act. The CM's statement would deter people running the illegal trade, said the spokesman.