Trade unions’ protest makes Bharat Nagar Chowk out of bounds for commuters
Traffic jams witnessed on Ferozepur Road, bus stand road and adjoining areas despite diversion of vehicles through internal lanes
As a part of the nationwide strike announced against the BJP-led central government, various trade unions organised a protest march outside the mini secretariat on Thursday and blocked the Bharat Nagar Chowk — one of the prime intersections of the city — for over two hours. Heavy police force was deployed at the spot.
Traffic jams were witnessed on Ferozepur Road, bus stand road and adjoining areas despite diversion of vehicles through internal lanes.
Raising slogans in support of farmers and labourers, the protesters slammed the central government for “moving against the constitution by bringing in anti-farmer and anti-labour laws”.
Union leaders said they stood united with farmers in this fight against the Centre and would continue the agitation till the time the central government does not roll back the “anti-labour and anti-farmer laws”.
Swaran Singh from INTUC, Ramesh Ratan from AITUC, Paramjeet Singh from CTU, and Sukhwinder Singh Lotey from CITU said that government was working to benefit the corporate houses.
In that course, they said, “anti-farmer and anti-labour bills” have been approved in the parliament without any debate.
Their other demands included cash transfer of ₹7,500 to all non-income tax paying families, 10kg free ration per person per month to all needy people, expansion of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to provide 200 days of work in a year in rural areas at enhanced wages, withdrawal of the “draconian circular” on “forced” premature retirement of government and PSU employees and provision of pension to all.
The protesters rued that the BJP-ruled states, including UP, Karnataka and Gujarat, have made “draconian” changes in the labour laws which will make the workers “slaves”.
Members of different labour unions also held a protest at Samrala chowk.
Commuters a harried lot
Though the police channelised the traffic movement from Bharat Nagar Chowk through slip roads, big rush was witnessed on Ferozepur Road, bus stand road, Fountain Chowk, railway station road and areas in and around.
Commuters raised hue and cry over the traffic jams and lamented the detours they had to take for reaching their destination.
One such commuter, Girish Verma, said, “I was on my way to Jawahar Nagar camp from Mall Road, but the police stopped me at the Bharat Nagar Chowk due to the protest. I had to take a detour to reach at bus stand road and it took me 20 minutes to reach the other side of Bharat Nagar Chowk. The protesters should not block the roads as it results in public harassment. The protests should be done in a peaceful manner.”
Another commuter, Harpreet Singh, said, “These protesters enjoy the support of the state government, but the public is bearing the brunt of their actions. Blocking the movement of traffic is not a solution for any problem and the protesters should understand this. It is always the public which suffers in the end.”
Members of Punjab Bank Employees’ Federation also observed a strike and staged a protest against the Centre.
They stated that all public-sector banks were closed on Thursday and banking transactions of around ₹500 crore were hit in Ludhiana only.
Federation’s Ludhiana secretary Naresh Gaur said that the Union government was working to privatise the public banks and they will not allow this.
“Any process of merger, consolidation or amalgamation results in reduction of staff. In fact, it is one of the purpose of mergers to ensure a lean organisation and achieve reduction in labour cost to show more profit,” he claimed.
Some of their major demands included strict action against loan defaulters and recovery of NPAs.
“We are also against the anti-labour and anti-farmer laws passed by the Union government,” Gaur said.