Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers stage protest outside PSPCL office

Farmers, including men and women, under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) on Thursday staged a protest outside Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) office against power supply disruption in the ongoing paddy season.Jalandhar district president of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee Salwinder Singh Janian, district general secretary Gurmel Singh Rerwan, district Kapurthala president Sarwan Singh Baupur, district general secretary Sukhpreet Singh Pasan led the protest against frequent power cuts in the domestic and agricultural sectors.This is the second such protest within a week. The committee members had earlier submitted a memorandum to PSPCL chief here against failure to supply eight hour electricity to farmers in the region.Gurlal Singh Pandori, one of the farmers, warned the corporation chief that if unscheduled power cuts were not stopped they would intensify their protest. He demanded the government to ensure that the damaged transformers be replaced within 24 hours. The PSPCL should also report about the stolen transformers to the police and provide new transformers as soon as possible.Pandori demanded the state government to immediately fill the vacant posts in the department. The farmer leaders warned the Centre and the state government to stop the electricity crisis and provide subsidies to the farmers. They also demanded repeal of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 and the Air Pollution Act 2020. Nirmal Singh Dhandowal, president, Shaheed Sandeep Kumar Zone; Rajinder Singh Nangalambia, district press secretary; Harpreet Singh Kotli Gajran, zone press secretary; Sarabjit Singh Dhandowal and others were present in the protest.Stop power cuts, demand industrialistsIndustrialist from the district along with their workers also reached the Shaki Sadan office of PSPCL against power cuts. The industrialists stated that the manufacturing was suffering due to the power cuts. Instead of making the arrangements to supply uninterrupted electricity to the manufacturing units, the electricity department was extending the power cut schedule, stated the agitators.

The Tribune

2021-07-09

Jalandhar