Cops thwart farmers’ protest, detain leaders; commuters inconvenienced

With key farm union leaders detained and many placed under house arrest across various districts in the state, the Punjab Police on Tuesday managed to stop farmers from holding a dharna outside the Shambhu police station.

Farmers are demanding compensation for the items that allegedly went missing during the police crackdown at the Shambhu protest site on March 19. Those items were later traced to individuals linked to AAP leaders, farmers claimed.

Meanwhile, commuters travelling to and from Delhi had to face inconvenience as the nakas set up by the police led to traffic snarls on the highway. “I am going to drop my sister at the Delhi airport. It has taken me two hours to cover the Khanna-Shambhu stretch, which is usually an hour’s journey,” said Vikas Behl of Jalandhar.

The police action began in the wee hours of Monday when it detained several farm leaders. Later, cops were deployed along various highways to prevent agitating farmers from reaching Shambhu. Nakas were set up around Patiala and other districts to check the movement of farmers towards the proposed dharna site.

“We have detained almost 100 farmer union members. They will be released late in the evening. They were stopped at different nakas by the police and detained as they tried to head towards Shambhu,” said Patiala SP (Investigation) Gurbans Singh Bains.

Earlier in the day, farmers were stopped at Ajitwal in Moga, Jagraon, Amritsar, Patran and other parts of the state as they held meetings before starting to move towards Shambhu.

In neighbouring Haryana, some farmers were stopped by the Haryana Police as they tried to head toward Shambhu. They were made to talk to Ghanaur DSP Harmanpreet Singh Cheema, who told them that the goods stolen from the Shambhu protest site on March 19 had been recovered and handed over to the owners. Farmers, however, sought strict action against the SHO concerned.

Farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who was also placed under house arrest, said in a video message that the farmer unions only wanted to raise voice against the police action on March 19-20, but the government acted against them. “They send our leaders to jail and detain them. I must tell the CM such actions would lead us to another protest. No protest can be silenced through coercion,” he said.

Punjab