Chandigarh, December 29
The farmers’ bodies protesting against the Centre’s new farm laws are against any act which causes damage to mobile towers or other public or private property, a senior leader of one of Punjab’s largest farmer organisations said on Tuesday.
He said various protesting farmer outfits have asked their supporters and workers not to indulge in such activities.
“The farmer organisations which are protesting against the new farm laws are against such things. We never back such things where some people damage mobile towers or cause damage to public or private property,” Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh told.
He reiterated that his outfit and others have made a strong appeal to people not to do any such act which may damage public property.
On Monday, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had said that 1,561 mobile towers have been “impacted” in the state during the farmers’ stir, and directed the police to take strict action against vandalisation and disruption of telecom services.
Asserting that he will not let Punjab plunge into anarchy at any cost and nobody can be allowed to take the law into their hands, the chief minister had said he has been forced to toughen his stance as his repeated appeals to perpetrators of such acts had been ignored.
A total of 1,561 mobile towers have been impacted in the state, according to an official statement on Monday. The state has a total of 21,306 mobile towers spread across its 22 districts.
Out of the total towers impacted, 25 had been damaged, allegedly by some farmers and their supporters in violation of the directions given by farmers’ unions to keep their protests against the farm laws peaceful.
Such incidents were reported from Mansa, Barnala, Ferozepur and Moga with mobile towers of a particular telecom operator being targeted during the past few days, disrupting their services.
