Punjab: Farmers push back barricades outside Sangrur police lines, protest enters Day 7

The union is calling for the repeal of the Electricity Amendment Bill, the Seed Bill, the Labour Code, and the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) scheme

Members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) on Saturday escalated their week-long demonstration outside the deputy commissioner’s office by pushing back police barricades put up outside the Sangrur police lines and staging a sit-in at the site.

Farmers trying to break the barricades in Sangrur on Saturday. (HT Photo)

The union accused the district administration of ignoring their demonstration. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said despite seven days of protest, no administrative official had visited the site. He said the administration was obligated to arrange basic amenities, while the police were responsible for facilitating talks with the deputy commissioner.

Ugrahan demanded the immediate withdrawal of FIRs filed against farmers for stubble burning, condemned the recent police action against local activist Mohanjit Singh, who was detained and allegedly subjected to custodial torture after waving a black flag at chief minister Bhagwant Mann over the state’s drug problem, and warned that the agitation could be prolonged.

However, Sangrur City 1 station house officer (SHO) Sukhdeep Singh disputed the claim that barricades were removed, stating that nearly 600 protesters had pushed them back. “Traffic movement has not been disrupted, as the road is sufficiently wide and the protesters are occupying only one side of the road,” the SHO said, adding that a meeting between farmer leaders and senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ravjot Grewal was held to resolve the deadlock.

The union’s wide-ranging demands include the cancellation of the India-US trade deal, the scrapping of Punjab’s land pooling policy, the granting of land ownership rights to tenant farmers, a complete waiver of agricultural loans for farmers and laborers, and financial compensation alongside government jobs for families of suicide victims. They are also seeking the dismissal of all police cases and stubble-burning FIRs, compensation for flood damage from the previous year, the desilting of rivulets, and the strengthening of embankments.

The union is calling for the repeal of the Electricity Amendment Bill, the Seed Bill, the Labour Code, and the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) scheme. Their economic demands encompass lower prices for fuel and cooking gas, a reduced tax burden on low-income groups, higher taxation on corporations and large landowners, an end to the sale of government assets, a statutory guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) calculated using the C2+50% formula on all crops, and an expanded public distribution system providing subsidised rations.

SSP Ravjot Grewal could not be contacted for comments.