Commuters in Punjab faced inconvenience on Friday as many buses stayed off the roads in response to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha's call for a 'Bharat Bandh' to press the government to accept farmers' demands including a legal guarantee of MSP.
Punjab Roadways, Punbus and PRTC Contract Workers' Union are supporting the Samyukta Kisan Morcha's (SKM) bandh call. During the day, farmers will also hold demonstrations at many places in Punjab under the banner of the SKM.
Many farmer bodies including Bharti Kisan Union (Rajewal), Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakunda), Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal), Bharatiya Kisan Union (Qadian) and Kirti Kisan Union are taking part in the bandh.
Passengers were seen waiting for buses at many bus stands to reach their respective destinations. Mainly students and office-goers faced inconvenience because of the non-availability of buses.
At the Patiala bus stand, a college student said he could not find any bus to go to Landran road. A government employee said he had to go to Mohali for work but no bus was available. At the Amritsar bus stand, a woman passenger who had to go to Jalandhar said she had been waiting for more than 30 minutes for a bus.
The SKM has appealed to all like-minded groups to support its bandh call. Many employee bodies and other associations have extended support to the bandh.
Besides a legal guarantee of MSP, the farmers are demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.
