Chandigarh, March 20 The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) on Thursday announced a protest outside the offices of Deputy Commissioners (DC) in Punjab and Haryana.
This call followed the detention of farmer leaders, including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, as they were returning from a meeting with a Central delegation and simultaneously evicting farmers who had been staging a sit-in protest for over a year and had raised temporary structures on two crucial borders linking Punjab with Haryana.
Farmers, who were detained Wednesday and kept at different locations, started a hunger strike to protest.
As a preventive measure, Internet services have been suspended in Sangrur and Patiala districts. Security has been beefed up at the Khanauri and Shambhu borders after police evicted the protesting farmers from the protest site.
Condemning the action against farmers by the Bhagwant Mann government, Satnam Singh Pannu of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee said, “Today, we will hold protest demonstrations outside the offices of Deputy Commissioners in Haryana and Punjab against the atrocities on farmers.”
He blamed the AAP government for the forcible eviction of farmers from the protest sites for collaboration with or on the orders of the Modi government.
“The Bhagwant Mann government and Modi government will have to pay a heavy price for this,” he warned.
Some farmer leaders have announced a road blockade across Punjab to register their protest.
Gurdeep Singh, a spokesperson for SKM (Non-Political), said farmer leaders have started a hunger strike in police custody.
Justifying the government action, state Finance Minister Harpal Cheema said the step was necessitated for the economic growth of the state.
“It is important that we fight against unemployment too,” he added. Also, before the police action, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Malvinder Singh Kang called for a collaborative and constructive approach to resolve the ongoing issues faced by farmers.
He highlighted that Punjab's borders have been blocked for over a year, leading to significant economic losses, reduced investments, and a decline in tourism. “The closure of Punjab’s borders, particularly at Shambhu, has not only created economic hardships but also affected religious tourism. The number of devotees visiting sacred places like Darbar Sahib has declined. Furthermore, the biggest challenge is the lack of investment, which is directly tied to industrial growth and employment generation. This is a pressing issue as unemployment is one of the root causes of drug abuse in Punjab,” he said.
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