Chandigarh: Even as the stand-off between protesting farmers and police continued across Punjab till late Wednesday evening, the police which stopped farmers from entering Chandigarh (UT) to hold week-long protests here, detained several more farm leaders including senior farm leaders including Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Mukesh Sharma.
The leaders of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) – the umbrella organisation leading the farmers protest to press the government for their demands including minimum support price (MSP) and implementation of Swaminathan report - said that besides Ugrahan and Sharma, the Punjab police had also detained other senior leaders including Balbir Singh Rajewal and Ruldu Singh Mansa.
Stating that tens of hundreds of farmers had started to head towards Chandigarh from across Punjab, they held that the farmers were prevented by the police from going to Chandigarh to start their week-long sit-in (dharna) there.
The leaders further held that despite the arrest of over 350 farmer leaders by the Punjab police, the farmers did not block road or rail or create any law and order problem.
However, the claims of farm leaders and the police notwithstanding, the motorists across the state underwent harrowing times in the wake of multiple checkpoints of the police on all the main roads to stop the farmers from heading towards Chandigarh. A multitude of road users held they missed important engagements including court dates, interviews and examinations due to the long traffic jams on all the main roads connecting Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, various farm unions held demonstrations against the Centre and state government at several districts after they were stopped by the police there.
The farm leader, however, held that the public faced despair in massive traffic jams in Chandigarh and across the state not due to the farmers' protest but due to the unwarranted restrictions imposed by the Punjab police.
Demanding an apology from Mann for police atrocities, the leaders said that his government will not have enough jail if the farmers of Punjab decide to court arrest to protect their democratic rights.
