Farmers Movement Archive

Farm union in Punjab gears up for Delhi march amid second Covid wave

Even as the Punjab government has ordered stringent restrictions in the state in the wake of the second Covid-19 wave, the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) is organising meetings in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts to mobilise support for marches to the national capital to intensify their protest against the Centre’s contentious agriculture laws. Two large processions of tractor-trailers are scheduled to leave for Delhi from Beas town of Amritsar district and Harike Pattan village of Tarn Taran district on May 5 and May 20. On Monday, the committee leaders held meetings with farmers of various villages of Amritsar Kathunangal block. “We admit that there is coronavirus, but an exaggerated scare is being created around it. As per the government figures, the death rate of the virus is 1.11% which is very low. The death rate of tuberculosis is 7%,” said Sarwan Pandher, general secretary of KMSC, which has a considerable base in Majha. “The repeal of the three laws is more important for the farmers. These laws are a direct attack on our livelihoods. People may survive the coronavirus but how will the farmers be saved from the three laws. Our fight against the anti-farmer laws will continue as it is a do-or-die battle for us. We will move in thousands to the national capital,” he added.KMSC’s Tarn Taran president Sukhwinder Singh Sabhran on Monday held a meeting of farmers of various villages in Tarn Taran’s Bhikhiwind sub-division. In the meeting, social distancing norms were hardly followed and no one was seen wearing face masks.“We will take more than 500 tractors from Tarn Taran alone on May 20. Where was the coronavirus when huge rallies were organised by the BJP and other political parties in the election-bound states? The administration can lodge FIRs against us but we are not bothered about it,” said Sabhran.Amritsar senior superintendent of police (rural) Dhruv Dahiya said he was not aware of the farmers’ march on May 5. “Nobody will be allowed to flout the rules,” he said.

Hindustan Times

04-05-2021

Chandigarh