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Farmers block rail tracks in Punjab’s 12 districts for three hours
The farmers owing allegiance to Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee on Sunday laid siege to the railway tracks in 12 districts of Punjab for three hours demanding action against those who attacked the agitating farmers during Delhi Kisan Morcha undertaken against three contentious farm bills, and raising other issues.
The farmers owing allegiance to Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) on Sunday laid siege to the railway tracks in 12 districts of Punjab for three hours demanding action against those who attacked the agitating farmers during Delhi Kisan Morcha undertaken against three contentious farm bills, and raising other issues.
It was second anniversary of the attack on Sunday. On January 29, 2021, a group of people who were allegedly associated to the BJP, assaulted the stage of the KMSC at Delhi’s Singhu border, main centre of the morcha. They torn the tent of the women agitators. The farmers alleged that the cops carried out lathicharge and shot tear gas shells at them instead of taking any action against the assailants.
To mark the anniversary, the KMSC leaders spearheaded the blockade of railway tracks at 15 places in 12 districts from 1pm to 4pm. “Even as we have video of the attack as a proof, no action was taken against the culprits”, said the KMSC general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher and state leader Gurbachan Singh Chabba while addressing the media persons at Devidaspur railway station near Amritsar.
Pandher reitrated that the Union government had given written consent for making a law which ensures minimum support price. He said the cases registered against farmers in New Delhi for protesting against three farm laws should be revoked. The family members of those who were killed during the Delhi protests should be given government jobs and compensation, he added.
KMSC’s president Satnam Singh Pannu said the accused of the Lakhimpur Kheri case, Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, should be sent back to jail after cancelling his bail. The supreme court on Wednesday granted eight-week interim bail to him in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, which claimed eight lives.
The other demands of the farmers pertaining to the Centre includes revocation of the draft of the electricity amendment bill, and abandoning the agreements made by the Indian government with World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The demands with the state government include clearing the pending payment of farmers for their sugarcane crops and adequate compensation to the farmers whose lands are being acquired for road projects.
