A Punjab farmers' group on Thursday held protests at several toll plazas against the state government to press for their demands, including farm debt waiver, remunerative prices for their crops and compensation for damage to crops.
The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) gave a call for holding protests at 18 toll plazas in the state for a month beginning Thursday to press the state government to accept their various demands, including farm debt waiver, remunerative prices for their crops and compensation for damage to crops.
During their protest, farmers will not allow the fee to be deducted for any vehicle passing through the toll plazas, KMSC General Secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said, adding that they are free for commuters in the state.
The protest will happen day and night till January 15, Sarwan Singh Pandher said.
The KMSC had earlier given a call for holding protests at 18 toll plazas in the state for a month beginning Thursday to press the state government to accept their various demands, including farm debt waiver, remunerative prices for their crops and compensation for damage to crops.
He alleged the apathetic attitude of the state government towards the issues of farmers.
Sarwan Singh Pandher further said they will ensure that the employees of toll plazas get their salary for this month. He further said they will also not let the toll plaza operators raise toll charges.
The toll plazas are located in Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran, Pathankot, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Moga, Jalandhar and Kapurthala.
Sarwan Singh Pandher said farmers owing allegiance to the KMSC earlier held protests at the deputy commissioner offices in the nine districts but their demands were ignored.
The KMSC has also threatened to make more toll plazas free in the coming days if the state government did not accept their demands.
At one of the toll plazas in Hoshiarpur, the situation turned tense when the employees of Cholang toll plaza protested against the farmers for not allowing them to collect toll fee from vehicles.
The situation got serious when a group of farmers and employees came face to face. Police tried to pacify them, however, a fight broke out between policemen and the protesting farmers.
Strongly opposing the farmers' move of forcibly making the movement of vehicles free of charge, toll plaza employees said if the toll collection is stopped then how will they get their salaries.
"We get salaries from here. Farmers are not going to pay us," said a woman worker deployed at the Cholang toll plaza.
The toll plaza employees also alleged that the district administration failed in controlling the protesting farmers and further said some boom barriers of toll plaza were damaged.
On December 7, Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal urged representatives of the KMSC to withdraw their protest, assuring them that the state government was striving to resolve the issues of growers.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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