Outrage against inflation In Punjab tractors parked by roadsides farmers hoist gas cylinders take to streets
Farmer unions across Punjab protested for two hours, 10am to noon, by parking their vehicles at the side of the road and raising slogans against the Narendra Modi government. Women protesters too joined in by carrying empty LPG cylinders on their heads and raising anti-Modi slogans.The farmers also honked the horns of their vehicles for 7-8 minutes to draw the attention of the government towards the rapidly rising inflation.In Jalandhar, members of Bharatiya Kisan Union-Rajewal, under the leadership of Mandip Singh Samra and Amarjot Singh, parked hundreds of vehicles on the service lanes of Jalandhar-Panipat National Highway from near Ramamandi flyover towards Ludhiana side. Most farmers who had parked their tractor trolleys by the side of the road put up placards on their vehicles reading ‘On Sale’.The farmers further wrote on the placards that because of the high price of petrol and diesel, they cannot afford to purchase fuel to operate their tractors due to which they were helpless and were being forced to sell these vehicles.Elsewhere Kirti Kisan union leaders, Santokh Singh Sandhu and Makhan Singh Kandola, along with hundreds of protesters, also parked their vehicles motorcycles, and tractors on Nurmahal-Phillaur and Talwan, Mehatpur and Shahkot road.Likewise, a large number of women activists reached various protest spots along with empty cylinders and carrying the flags of farmer unions in their hands.The women activists said that the prices of gas cylinders have already crossed Rs 864 per cylinder, which is out of the reach of the poor. SO, now they had no other option but to return to the traditional methods of cooking on ‘earthen and bricked stoves by using combustible fuel.