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2-hour blockade on major highways in Punjab, Haryana hassle commuters
In Punjab, farmers laid siege to the Amritsar-Delhi national highway near Phillaur, Jalandhar-Pathankot highway at Bhogpur, Jalandhar-Moga road near Shahkot and Amritsar-Bathinda national highway near Tarn Taran town. The blockade started around 11am and continued for over two hours, leaving commuters hassled.
A day after a 21-year-old farmer died while protesting at the Khanauri barrier, several farmers’ unions blocked major roads and highways in Punjab and Haryana for two hours on Thursday.
In Punjab, farmers laid siege to the Amritsar-Delhi national highway near Phillaur, Jalandhar-Pathankot highway at Bhogpur, Jalandhar-Moga road near Shahkot and Amritsar-Bathinda national highway near Tarn Taran town. The blockade started around 11am and continued for over two hours, leaving commuters hassled.
In Haryana, farmers blocked highways in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Yamunanagar, Bhiwani, Hisar, Rohtak, Jind and other parts of the state while allowing passage to ambulance and defence vehicles.
Jasbir Singh, a resident of Batala, said, “Ludhiana is just 20 minutes away from the protest site but it took me over an hour to reach Ludhiana through an alternative route,” he said.
Amrik Singh, president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Kadian)’s Jalandhar unit, said, “People are happy when farmers make toll plazas free but get irked when we block roads to press for our genuine demands.”
“We are fighting for our rights. A young farmer had lost his life and hundreds more were injured due to the Haryana police action. We are protesting to provide justice to the aggrieved family,” he added.
Stating that Haryana police entered Punjab’s territory and damaged farmers’ tractors, Amrik Singh said, “We want the state government to fix responsibility and take stern action against the police officials involved in Wednesday’s police action.”
BKU (Charuni) Rohtak unit president Raju Makrauli said, “The Centre and the Punjab government should provide financial assistance to the deceased farmer’s family and a job to his sister. He was the sole breadwinner of his family.”
In Tarn Taran, where farmers burned the effigies of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, farmer leader Tajinderpal Singh Rasoolpur said, “The government has crossed all limits of brutality and did not even spare the ambulances parked at the Punjab-Haryana border.”
