Punjab Police removes farmers protesting outside power utility office in Patiala

The Punjab Police on Tuesday removed a group of farmers protesting outside the state power corporation’s office in Patiala district to press their demands.

As the police cleared the protest site, irate farmers blocked roads at several places in the state, including Hoshiarpur, Batala, Bathinda and Samrala.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political), a breakaway faction of the SKM, had been holding the protest outside the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) office since June 8, opposing the installation of smart meters and demanding that the state government stop charging commercial rates on electricity connections for ancillary businesses such as dairying, among others.

Early Tuesday morning, a large police force cleared the protest site, removed tents pitched by the farmers and vehicles parked on the road. The police also took some farmers into preventive custody. Protesters were taken in buses to different police stations even as they raised slogans against the state government.

The protesters have been removed with the use of mild force, Inspector General of Police Mukhwinder Singh Chhina told reporters in Patiala.

He said some farmer leaders, including Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who were on hunger strike, were taken for medical check-up.

Dallewal, who is the president of Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta-Sidhupur), strongly condemned the police action when he was being taken away by policemen.

Police said all three gates of the PSPCL office in Patiala have been opened.

The protesters had squatted outside the gates of PSPCL, blocking the entry of officials, thus affecting the routine functioning of the power utility. They also pitched tents on the road leading to the PSPCL office, causing inconvenience to commuters.

Top wrestler Vinesh Phogat joined the protest on June 11.

After the police action, farmers held protests by blocking highways at some places in the state.

Irate farmers blocked the Ludhiana-Chandigarh highway in Samrala and the Amritsar-Pathankot highway near Batala for some time, they said.

In Hoshiarpur, farmers blocked vehicular traffic for about two hours at Tanda.

Kisan Ganna Sangharsh Committee Punjab president Sukhpal Singh Daffar condemned the ”forcible” removal of farmers and detention of farmer leaders in Patiala.

He demanded that the protesters who were taken into custody be released.

In Bathinda, protesters blocked the road leading to Rampura Phul.