Thenation-wide bandh call given by the farm organisations today over three farmbills that were passed in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, recently,received an overwhelming support from the city residents especially youngsterswho were seen dominating the agitations with their participation.
Roadsin Jalandhar wore a deserted look as very few people came out of their homes andmost of the markets remained closed. Though the timings of the bandh given byfarm unions was 11am to 3 pm, the sat-in-dharnas in city began well before 11am and protestors were seen blocking the roads and appealing the people to givefull support to the cause.
Therewas minimal traffic on the main PAP chowk, however, reports were received thatwedding processions heading towards Ludhiana from PAP were stopped. Meanwhile,there were no reports of any untoward incident in the city and nearby area till3 pm.
Agroup of youngsters on cars took out a rally in support of farmers and theirdemands. They visited road to road; markets to markets to check were all theshops were closed. A few shops that were seen opened, the youngsters appealedthem to close the premises and lend support to the cause. A few policemen onmotorbikes and cars were seen following them.
InModel Town area, scores of school and college going students, under theleadership of youth leaders, stood at various points holding placards in hands havingslogans ‘No farmers, No food’, to express their fulsome support to the farmers.
VikramSingh, an engineering student, who was spotted capturing the rally live onFacebook, at the PPR Chowk here, said, “I do not belong to any political partyor organisation, I am here for the ‘Annadata’ (farmers) of our state. I, alongwith a few of my friends, decided to participate in the protests today with thesole motive of making the city residents aware of the plight of farmers in thestate via social media,” he said, adding that despite such a cold weather, thefarmers are out on roads in Delhi.
“Thefact is they are not protesting just for their rights, rather, these laws areharmful for every citizen of India, and it will force us to buy even thecheapest farm produce in almost four times of the cost of its production”, headded.