Atish Gupta
Chandigarh, 30 December
The Joint Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have called for a Punjab bandh today regarding the legal guarantee of purchase of all crops at MSP and the demands of other farmers and workers. In the wake of the Punjab bandh, at 7 am, the leaders of the farmers’ organizations stopped the road and rail traffic by camping at more than 140 places in the state. However, emergency services are not being stopped during this time.
It may be mentioned that a large number of businessmen, religious, employees, students, transporters and other organizations of the state have also come out in support of the call of Punjab Bandh today given by the farmers’ organizations. Those who have cooperated in the Punjab Bandh today.
According to IANS report The call for a bandh by farmers’ organizations over their demands, including legal guarantee of minimum support price of crops, received overwhelming response in Punjab on Monday. However, emergency services remained open. Apart from the private bus transporters who joined the bandh, more than 200 trains including Vande Bharat and Shatabdi were affected.
It may be mentioned that the bandh was called in support of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on hunger strike for more than a month to implement farmers’ demands. Many cities and towns have mostly national highways, which has severely affected the movement of daily commuters and office goers. This nine-hour bandh will remain in effect till 4 pm.
However, there were no reports of any untoward incident as the police were helping motorists avoid tripping or plying on link roads to reach their destinations. Reports of closure of shops and business establishments were received from Mohali, Patiala, Ludhiana, Moga, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and other places. Most of the private buses in Punjab remained off the roads due to the private bus transporters joining the strike. Many schools and offices had declared a holiday in view of the bandh call. On the other hand, the effect of the bandh was not seen in Chandigarh.