Jalandhar: Several farmer organisations under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday staged a sit-in protest outside the residence of Local Bodies Minister Balkar Singh. Leaders of farmer organisations, including Balwinder Singh Malli Nangal of Doaba Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, Kashmir Singh Jandiala of BKU (Rajewal), Rashpal Singh of Kirti Kisan Union, Sandeep Arora of All India Kisan Sabha, Jaswant Singh of BKU (Lakhowal) and Dharminder of BKU (Dakaunda), staged the protest.
The farmers set up tents outside the minister’s residence and also put up signage with their demands. Balwinder Singh Malli Nangal said that the signage with the list of their demands was put up at the protest site as neither the minister nor any member of his family came to take a copy of their memorandum. One of their main demands was to get proper compensation for their land being acquired under the Bharatmala project. They demanded that the Attari and Hussainiwala borders should be opened for cross-border trade. They also demanded a solution to the damage caused to their crops by wild and stray animals. Another demand of the protesters was a crop insurance scheme.
