E-Paper
Ludhiana: Farmers make Ladhowal plaza ‘toll-free’ for four hours
The protest was organised to show support for Haryana farmers’ stir for sunflower seed procurement at minimum support prices
To show support for the ongoing farmers’ protest in Haryana over procurement of sunflower seeds at minimum support price, the Punjab unit of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) staged a protest on Wednesday at Ladhowal toll plaza on the Delhi-Amritsar national highway.
The protesters also stopped the staff the at facility from collecting toll charges from the passing vehicles. They had started gathering at the plaza at around 9 am and disrupted the operations of the facility at around 12 noon.
BKU (Charuni) is leading the ongoing protests in various cities of Haryana.
As the union members sat on the toll lanes, motorists passed using the slip lanes, without paying any charges, till 4 pm. Minor traffic disruptions were also reported due to the protests.
The Ladhowal toll plaza lies between the Jalandhar-Panipat route on the NH-44 and sees a heavy rush of vehicles. The vehicles have to pay ₹150 to 250, depending on their category.
Police officials, including additional deputy commissioner Shubham Aggarwal, also reached the spot to assess the situation.
Dilbag Singh Gill, president Punjab unit of BKU (Charuni), said, “We have come out in support of the farmers in Haryana. They are protesting for minimum support price for sunflower seed.” He added that the govt’s use of force, such as lathi charge and water cannons, against the protesting farmers is wrong.
He added that they lifted the protest around 4 pm to join the meeting of farmer unions in Haryana and further course of action will be decided as per the decision of union leaders.
