Protesting farmers lay siege to 18 toll plazas in Punjab

Farmers in Punjab on Thursday laid siege to 18 toll plazas across the state as part of a month-long protest against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state over various demands

Farmers in Punjab on Thursday laid siege to 18 toll plazas across the state as part of a month-long protest against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state over various demands.

Amritsar: Farmers part of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) raise slogans during a protest to press their various demands including farm debt waiver, remunerative prices for their crops and compensation for damage to crops, in Amritsar, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. KMSC gave a call for holding protests at 18 toll plazas in the state for a month beginning Thursday. (PTI Photo)(PTI12_15_2022_000118B) (PTI)

The protest is part of an agitation the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) has been holding since November 26 outside the offices of deputy commissioners in the state, the outfit’s general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters.

As part of the month-long siege, protesters will ensure that commuters do not have to pay the toll, he said, adding that these plazas were benefitting “corporates”.

According to Pandher, their demands are — checking drug smuggling; improving law and order; implementing the minimum support price (MSP) guarantee law for crops along the lines of the Kerala government; hiking wages of labourers under MGNREGA; making a concrete policy to save Punjab’s waters; providing guarantee for alternative crops to paddy; meeting pending demands of the Delhi morcha (protest); revoking decisions that deprive states from exercising their rights; acting against culprits of the Lakhimpur Kheri episode; and exemplary punishment to culprits of the Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan police firing in 2015.

“Governments have played with public interest by acting as pawns of corporate houses. We have holding the morcha since November 26 but no attention was given to our demands. So, we decided to lay siege to toll plazas that are benefiting corporates,” Pandher said.

KMSC president Satnam Singh Pannu demanded that the toll plazas be removed permanently.

In Amritsar district, the protesters assembled at toll plazas in Kathunangal on the Amritsar-Pathankot national highway, Manawala on the Amritsar-Delhi national highway and Chhidan on the Amritsar-Attari national highway.

In Tarn Taran district, toll plazas at Usma and Manan have turned into protest sites, while they laid siege to toll plazas at Giddarpindi and Ferozeshah in Ferozepur district.

Besides, farmers have also started sit-in protets at toll plazas in Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Moga, and Fazilka districts.