News Updates : In response to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s call for a “Bharat Bandh” to pressure the government to adopt farmers’ demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP, buses in Punjab stayed off the road on Friday, causing difficulty for commuters.
Along with the closure of markets and other commercial spaces around the state, farmers staged protests and blocked national highways in Pathankot, Tarn Taran, Bathinda, and Jalandhar. They chanted anti-Center slogans because the Center refused to budge on their requests.
The Haryana Roadways services in Hisar, Haryana, were rendered inoperable as a result of the workers’ absence from work in support of the “Bharat Bandh.” Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) members compelled officials not to collect toll tax from commuters by staging dharnas at multiple toll plazas in Haryana.
There were protests in certain areas of western Uttar Pradesh as well. Rakesh Tikait, the head of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), took part in a demonstration at the Bagovali crossing on the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway in Muzaffarnagar.
Leader of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait, told reporters, “We are holding the protest for the demands, including implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report, loan waiver etc.”
“A meeting is scheduled in Sisauli (Muzaffaranagar) on Saturday, where planning for the future course of action will be made,” Tikait responded when asked if he had any intentions to travel to Delhi. Members of the BKU interfered with some sugarcane weighing centers’ operations in Bijnor.
There was a protest by BKU members in Baghpat. “Vandana Chowk was the site of the symbolic protest in support of the bandh,” stated Pratap Singh Gurjar, president of BKU district. Farmers who did not visit the sugarcane procurement centers backed the call.” The bandh barely made a dent in Budaun, Shahajahanpur,
Participating in the bandh were numerous farmer bodies, such as BKU (Rajewal), BKU (Dakunda), BKU (Lakhowal), BKU (Qadian), and Kirti Kisan Union.
The bandh call was also backed in Punjab by Punjab Roadways, Punbus, and PRTC Contract Workers’ Union. They are demonstrating against the proposed hit-and-run bill from the Center.