About 250 migrant labourers blocked the Ludhiana-Delhi National Highway near the Kakowal Road here on Tuesday for at least one hour.
The labourers were demanding arrangements to send them to their native places. Some protesters alleged that police personnel were demanding Rs 500 as bribe to make them board trains.
The police reached the spot and dispersed them allegedly using mild force.
The labourers said, “We neither have jobs nor money and food to survive. But the administration is not making arrangements to send us back home.”
Another labourer said, “After I applied to go back to my hometown, I got a confirmation message on my phone and reached the railway station to board a train, but the police did not allow me to board the train, despite the confirmation message. The police said the train was already full.”
Another agitator alleged, “The policemen at the Guru Nanak Stadium are demanding Rs 500 from each person to allow us to board a train. This is how the Punjab government is treating us. I have been living in the city for the past 20 years, but now I want to go back home.”
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, city-1) Gurpreet Singh Sikand said, “The agitators are from Kishanganj and Araria districts of Bihar. They are demanding to run trains for Kishanganj and Araria so that they reach their native places. However, we have written to senior officials about demands of labourers.”
{{/usCountry}}Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, city-1) Gurpreet Singh Sikand said, “The agitators are from Kishanganj and Araria districts of Bihar. They are demanding to run trains for Kishanganj and Araria so that they reach their native places. However, we have written to senior officials about demands of labourers.”
{{/usCountry}}The ADCP added the police did not use any force against the labourers. Instead, they fled after seeing police vehicles, he said.
On May 3, around 250 migrant labourers, residing in Sherpur, Dhandari, Focal Point and nearby areas, had gathered on the National Highway near Dhandari and blocked the road for at least 20 minutes. The labourers also shouted slogans against the Punjab government and the police. The labourers had also pelted the police personnel and vehicles with stones and damaged at least 10 vehicles.