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10 days on, SKM calls off ‘chakka jam’
The farmers unions had been protesting in Amritsar, Mansa, Patiala, Faridkot, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda since November 16 against punitive action for stubble burning and no compensation for crop damage due to inclement weather, pest attack and land acquisition for national highway projects.
After agitating for 10 days, the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM, apolitical) has decided to call off their ‘chakka jam’ and lift road blockades from all six districts of Punjab by 2pm on Friday.
The farmers unions had been protesting in Amritsar, Mansa, Patiala, Faridkot, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda since November 16 against punitive action for stubble burning and no compensation for crop damage due to inclement weather, pest attack and land acquisition for national highway projects.
The move comes a day after Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU, Ekta Sidhupur) president Jagjit Singh Dallewal ended his hunger strike after Punjab agriculture minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal apologised for chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s remark that “protesting had become a ‘riwaj’ with farmer unions.
Calling off the strike, Dallewal said that the Punjab government had sought time till March 31 to implement the farmers’ demands. Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU, Ekta Sidhupur) Mansa chapter general secretary Makhan Singh Bhaini Bagha said, “We will lift our dharna (demonstration) by 2pm.”
“A government representative “expressing regret” and offering firm assurance that the farmers’ demands will be met in a timebound manner is a major achievement for the SKM,” said Kaka Singh Kotra, the union’s state general secretary.
“Our call for chakka jam may have inconvenienced commuters, but we were fighting for our rights. We are winding up with a message for the agrarian community to stay united and keep fighting for the farmers’ rights,” said Kotra.
Saying that several leaders who had not stood by the farmers had been exposed, a key union leader, who did not wish to be named, said, “It is important to expose the role of farmer leader Ruldu Singh Mansa who levelled several unfounded allegations against the SKM. The agriculture minister in his apology said that the CM unfairly called farmer unions habitual protesters. Several left-leaning groups were also seen standing with the state government and terming our protest ‘uncalled for’.”
