Bathinda, April 10: Intensifying their stir, members of farmer unions on Monday reached Mansa and participated in the protest against the district administration and state government. The farmers even held captive the Deputy Commissioner, SSP and several other officials inside the District Administrative Complex.
The farmers have been staging a protest demanding Rs 10-lakh compensation and government jobs for kin of the two farmers who had died in road accidents while coming back from Chandigarh after participating in an agitation there. They have also been demanding Rs 5-lakh compensation for the three farmers injured in the accidents.
Earlier, as the protesting farmers began marching towards the office of the DC, police personnel closed the gates of the complex to prevent the farmers from entering the complex.
Irked with the police action, the protesters blocked both the gates of the complex.Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan state vice-president Jhanda Singh Jethuke announced that till the time their demands were not met by the administration, the gherao would continue.
During a meeting convened by DC Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and SSP Parambir Singh Parmar with a delegation of farmers, the district administration tried to end the impasse and agreed to the demand of paying Rs 10 lakh compensation to the kin of the deceased.
Since the officials didn’t promise government jobs and full debt waiver, the meeting remained inconclusive. The protesters however, ended the gherao of the complex and allowed the officials to leave at 9.45pm. The farmers went back to their protest site.
Source Tribune India
