Farmers say stir to continue until all demands met

On Saturday, the dharna at the Khanauri and Shambhu borders entered day 12. A candle march was organised by the protesting farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM non-political) at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders on Saturday evening. The farmers have announced a series of programmes till February 28 and hence will announce their next plan of action only on February 29.

Sarwan Singh Pandher, coordinator of KMM, while talking to The Indian Express said, “We have conveyed our stand to the Punjab government and so has Shubhkaran’s family. Till the time the culprits of Shubhkaran are not punished, a post-mortem will not be allowed to be conducted.”

On Friday, Pandher had said, “The Punjab government shouldn’t bother about monetary compensation because if we send out one appeal to the masses, donations will start pouring in for Shubhkaran’s family.”

Interestingly, donations started pouring in as well and as on Friday alone, over Rs 24 lakh was received in the savings account of Gurpreet Kaur, the younger sister of Shubhkaran.

Picture of the passbook’s front page had gone viral on social media in which the account number can also be seen. The family members of Shubhkaran have confirmed that the passbook belongs to Kaur and that money had been received.

The bank account is registered with the State Bank of India. Information revealed that owing to unusual transactions in a single day, the bank has blocked any further incoming transactions as of now.

Earlier on Saturday morning, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami visited Shambhu border. Dhami came along with SGPC members of Patiala and served langar to the farmers.

The SGPC even organised a medical aid stall at the Shambhu border. Dhami said, “If farmers need anything, they can approach the nearby gurdwaras of the SGPC in Fatehgarh Sahib, Rajpura and others and they will help in every possible way.”

Dhami said, “I am also a farmer and I remember that in 1968, prices of diesel used to be 68 paise per litre and wheat’s price was Rs 215 per quintal. In 2024, the price of diesel has increased by more than 100 times while the MSP of wheat is still Rs 2,275 a quintal. Earlier input costs were very less. Now, the cost of fertilizers, sprays etc have added on to the expenses but the MSP calculation is not in tandem with the expenses and inflation.”

“The farmers wanted to go to Delhi to make themselves heard but it is a death of democracy as they are not being allowed. The Haryana and Punjab governments and the Centre are responsible for killing our young farmers and injuring many others,” Dhami said.

He added, “However, the farmers are still standing tall at the borders and are following the teachings of our gurus. The SGPC stands tall with the farmers at this hour.”

On Friday, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia had addressed the media along with the father of Pritpal Singh, one of the protestors at the Khanauri border, who is under treatment at the PGI Rohtak after allegedly being dragged by Haryana Police during the protest. According to the farmer leaders on Saturday evening, the process to shift Pritpal to Punjab has begun.

In the morning, Punjab Chief Secretary Anurag Verma also wrote to Sanjeev Kaushal, Chief Secretary of Haryana, asking the government to handover Pritpal Singh to the Punjab government so that he can be given free treatment. In addition to this, the letter also said that if any other agitating farmer is under treatment in Haryana, they too should be handed over to the Punjab government.

Meanwhile, 33-year-old farmer Gurjant Singh, a resident of Masuredeva village of the Ferozepur constituency died in an accident near the Basantpura village of Rajpura. He was a member of the BKU Krantikari.

Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the coordinator of SKM (non-political) said, “He along with other farmers was on his way to the Shambhu border when the tractor trolley on which they were coming met with an accident. Gurjant was taken to a hospital but couldn’t be saved.”

It has been learnt that a truck had hit the trolley from behind due to which Gurjant, who was on the driver’s seat, fell and met with injuries. According to information, he was declared dead at the Rajpura civil hospital.

Dallewal and Pandher said, “We want that family to be given Rs 5 lakh compensation and demand a job for a member of the family.” Notably, in the 2020-21 farm agitation, the then Congress government had announced a similar compensation but the AAP government is yet to take a call on it.