Farmers Movement Archive

Ludhiana halts for 4 hours as farmers stage chakka jam

With farmers laying siege onto the busy Ladhowal Toll Plaza on National Highway (NH-44), as part of the nationwide call for chakka jam against the newly introduced central farm laws, passengers had a harrowing time for over four hours on Thursday. The protest started around noon and lasted till 4pm. By 2pm, protestors from Phillaur and Nawanshahr came and joined the protesting farmers from Ludhiana, raising slogans against the central government and its new farm laws.Witnessing the massive rush, police started diverting the traffic, heading towards Sutlej Bridge (where the toll plaza is situated). However, many heavy vehicles drivers decided to park their trucks in the middle of the road and wait till the farmer unions lifted their protest.Farmers clear way for ambulances, army convoysThe farmers, however, made sure to not cause any inconvenience to ambulances and army convoys on the route, making way for them through the blockade. Repeated announcements were being made at the protest site to clear way for the emergency vehicles. Vikas, a Phagwara resident, who was on his way to visit his wife and newborn at a city hospital, was allowed easy passage. Harmeet Singh Kadian of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Kadian), who was leading the protest, said, “We are being projected as anti-national, being blamed for stopping train services and not letting toll authorities to collect money from commuters. But no one has paid attention to the fact that though we have been sitting on protest for the past 36 days, there has been no incident of violence and vandalism at any protest site.”Many commuters decided to walkA huge number of commuters, who were either travelling by bus or auto rickshaw, decided to walk to get to the other side of Sutlej Bridge in the hope of catching another mode of public transport from there.Rupinder Kaur from Phagwara, who was seen walking with her children, said, “The auto we were travelling in was not allowed to pass following which we decided to walk.”Masks given a go-byMeanwhile, hardly anyone at the protest site was seen wearing masks or observing social distancing. Many farmer leaders claimed that the government was deliberately projecting a second wave of Covid-19 to curtail farmer protests.PM’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ call finds takers Prime Minister’s (PM’s) slogan of Swachh Bharat was practically realised at the dhara site as hundreds of farmers were seen carefully discarding waste into garbage bins instead of littering. A farmer quipped, “We are judicious in our approach. PM Narendra Modi exhorted the people of the country to maintain hygiene and cleanliness and gave a slogan of Swachh Bharat. We followed his vision for a clean India but we are opposed to his farm laws.”

Hindustan Times

06-11-2020

City