The farmers' protest against the heavy fines on stubble burning and lesser compensation for crop damage due to inclement weather and pest attack and land acquisition for national highway projects, entered its ninth consecutive day on Thursday. The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Ekta Sidhupur, is spearheading the protests in Amritsar, Mansa, Patiala, Faridkot and Bathinda in Punjab.
Meanwhile, BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) president Jagjit Singh Dallewal's fast unto death to press the AAP-led state government for the farmers' demands entered its sixth day on Thursday. Dallewal has also demanded an apology from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his recent "paid" protest remark against farmers. The Faridkot district administration and senior police officials have been persuading Dallewal to end his fast.
On Thursday, they called farmers' leaders for a meeting in which Faridkot Deputy Commissioner, senior police officials from the district and AAP's Faridkot MLA, Gurdit Singh Sekhon were present. In the meeting, the farmer leaders reiterated their demand for an apology from the chief minister.
"Our first issue now is that Bhagwant Mann should apologise for his remarks. Meanwhile, our protests in different parts of the state will continue like this," a farmer leader told reporters after the meeting. After farmers blocked the Patiala-Chandigarh road on Thursday, Mann slammed their unions for frequently blocking roads in the state as part of their protests, saying that the common people were facing inconvenience.
Blocking roads by holding sit-ins has become a "trend" during the past few days, he said last week. On Wednesday, Dallewal said, "I appeal to farmers to carry out their protests in a peaceful manner even if I die."
The farmer leader had earlier accused the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of acting as the BJP did during the farmers' stir against the farm laws. Farmers were compelled to stage sit-ins on roads after their protests outside the offices of deputy commissioners did not yield any positive response from the state government, he added.
(With PTI inputs)
