Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers block highways in Mohali, commuters hassled

MOHALI: Farmers protesting against the three farm laws blocked highways at six points in Mohali, causing inconvenience to the commuters on Thursday. BKU (Sidhupur), BKU (Lakhowal) and Kul Hind Kisan Sabha, Mohali, blocked highways at Lalru, Zirakpur, near Banur, at Amb Sahib Gurdwara in Sohana, Kharar bus stand and Landran Road at Badala T-point in Kharar. No untoward incident was reported and the protest remained peaceful, said the deputy commissioner. Farmers had earlier announced blocking of highways on November 5 as a state-wide protest. They have blocked railway tracks at 40 places in Punjab. People travelling from Delhi to Chandigarh had to face a tough time as most of them were caught unawares near Lalru blockade. Charanjit Singh, a resident of Delhi, said, “We had left Delhi early in the morning, but got stuck in a traffic jam when we reached near Lalru. There were long queues of trucks and their drivers refused to move their vehicles. After a tussle of nearly two hours, we managed to turn our vehicle and went back to Ambala, from where we took an alternative route via Panchkula to reach Chandigarh.” People coming from Jalandhar were asked to divert via Kurali-Mullanpur to reach Chandigarh. Local commuters were able to find alternative routes, but those coming from other states were at their wits’ end. Farmers also blocked the Airport Road near Amb Sahib Gurdwara for six hours. On-duty SDM Jagdeep Saigal said, “They were sitting peacefully and lifted the dharna by 4pm.” There were traffic jams on Banur-Kharar and Kharar-Landran highways and also on Ambala-Chandigarh highway near Lalru. The Mohali traffic police diverted the traffic to alternative routes. The BKU unions led 50 to 80 protesters, who were supported by Davinder Singh Dehkalan, district president of BKU (Lakhowal), Ravinder Singh Dehkalan, district president of BKU (Sidhupur), Gian Singh Dhadak, general secretary of BKU (Sidhupur), Azaib Singh Ghaduan, vice-president of BKU (Sidhupur), Balbir Singh Musafir, president of Mohali Kul Hind Kisan Sabha, and Kuldeep Singh, president of Mohali Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). They blocked road at Kharar bus stand for two hours. They also burnt the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Naib tehsildar Puneet Bansal, DSP Manjeet Singh and DSP Rupinderjit Kaur managed the protesters. The farmers demanded that all the three laws should be translated into Punjabi and distributed all over the state so that people know their meaning and impact.

The Times of India

2020-11-06

Chandigarh