Commuters are expected to face inconvenience during the rail roko agitation in 23 districts of Punjab on Wednesday. Farmers have been protesting for a few months on their demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops.
According to farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher, the protests, organised by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, would begin at 12 pm and end at 3 pm in 23 districts spanning across the state.Farmers under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
A “jatha” (group) of 101 farmers made three attempts to enter Delhi on foot on December 6, December 8 and again on December 14. They were not allowed to proceed by security personnel in Haryana.Besides a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Earlier on Tuesday, Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said farmers won’t be able to meet the Supreme Court-appointed committee on December 18 in Panchkula.The committee was constituted on September 2 to resolve the grievances of farmers agitating at the Shambhu border. The SC-appointed panel invited the farmers to hold a meeting on December 18 in Haryana’s Panchkula.
He wrote that at least 40 farmers sustained injuries during the “police excesses” at the Shambhu border when they tried to march to Delhi on foot.Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands.