Farmers Movement Archive

3-day protest against Pb govt’s ‘Covid failure’ ends in Patiala

Patiala: Farmers under the banner of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) concluded their three-day protest against the state government over its failure to deal with the Covid crisis in Punjab at PUDA ground in Patiala. The protesting farmers also held the Central government responsible for the state of affairs. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh alleged, “Both the Centre and state government failed to deal with the Covid crisis despite the virus knocking the country about a year ago. Both the governments are equally responsible. What could be more shameful than dead bodies being eaten by dogs near Ganga river? The central government kept Rs 200 crore to establish 162 oxygen plants but only 33 have been set up so far. The state government failed completely as it could not recruit the necessary medical staff and provide infrastructure to hospitals.” He said, “Governments in Punjab and Haryana are blaming farmers for Covid spread. Punjab CM asked us not to organise the protest as it could spread Covid. We followed Covid guidelines, including social distancing, wearing masks and sanitisation.” Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader B S Rajewal accused the Centre of making the agri laws a prestige issue. “We had written a letter to the Centre government but got no response. The government seems to be holding on to ego. All three farm laws are not in favour of farmers and country. We proved this during the clause by clause discussion on farm laws. We stick to our stand to get the laws repealed. The issue of crop MSP is very important for farmers,” he claimed. During their three-day agitation, farmers asked the state government to provide Rs 10 lakh compensation each and a government job to kin of farm activists of Punjab who died during the agitation. Farmers asked the Punjab government to fill the vacancies of technical and medical staff in the Punjab health department, provide free of cost vaccination and life-saving drugs, stop imposing fines on violators of curfew or Covid guidelines; recruit staff to operate ventilators lying unused in government hospitals; provide more L3 facility beds and check black marketing of medicines and oxygen. The protesting farmers also said private hospitals must be brought under government control for treatment of Covid patients and charges of private hospitals should be kept within the reach of common people, especially the poor. They asked the Central government to levy taxes on corporate houses and increase government investment in the public sector, including the health department.

The Times of India

2021-05-31

Ludhiana