Adamant farmers block expressways

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, April 10

Colourful tents, youths driving flag-bearing tractors with blasting music, local men in traditional attire smoking hookah in groups and women preparing variety of food items in langar at different points, such was the scene on 1-km-stretch of the KMP Expressway near Bahadurgarh on Saturday.

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Farmers started the 24-hour blockade of the KMP and KGP expressways today following a call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha in protest against the three farm laws.

The protesters parked tractors and other vehicles in the middle of the expressways at 8 in the morning and pitched tents at several places to beat the heat. The dharna on Aasoda side (KMP) was led by BKU (Ekta) chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan, while activists of the BKU (Rajewal), All-India Kisan Sabha and other outfits camped on the Mandothi side.

A majority of the protesters were those camping at Tikri-Bahadurgarh border while local participation seemed low as compared to the March 6 protest when farmers had blocked the expressway for five hours to mark the 100th day of their agitation.

Despite hot weather, there was a considerable presence of women, especially elderly, at the BKU (Ugrahan) camp. “We are here for a decisive battle and will go back only after winning it,” said Jagjit Kaur, an elderly protester.