Chandigarh, March 21 — Traffic on National Highway-44 (NH44) resumed after more than a year on Thursday as police dismantled protest structures at the Shambhu border and detained over a thousand farmers.
Haryana officials also removed cemented barricades at Khanauri, with Punjab cops working to clear the Sangrur-Jind road, which is expected to reopen by Friday evening.
Both highways were blocked on February 13 last year when farmers, demanding a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP), were stopped during their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march.
The farmers condemned the AAP government for detaining their leaders and removing the protesters.
The Punjab Police detained farmer leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and Jagjit Singh Dallewal of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) on Wednesday while they were returning from Chandigarh after failed talks with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Chouhan.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled for May 4.
Punjab Police detained 287 farmers at Shambhu and Khanauri, including Pandher, sending them to judicial custody. Of them, 113 were shifted to Patiala Central Jail, 150 to Nabha Central Jail, and 24 to Mansa Jail.
Patiala Range DIG Mandeep Singh Sidhu said over 500 tractors and vehicles at Khanauri were being removed. Over the past two days, 572 farmers were detained from Khanauri, with more than 260 released.
Protests in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, and Malwa
In Amritsar, several farmers were detained while marching towards the deputy commissioner’s office. In Tarn Taran, hundreds of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) members staged a protest on the Amritsar-Bathinda highway before being dispersed.
KMSC leaders accused the central and Haryana governments of blocking the Shambhu and Khanauri roads.
In Sangrur, over 100 activists of Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Azad), including president Jaswinder Singh Longowal, were detained while attempting to protest outside the DC office.
BKU-Ekta Ugrahan president Joginder Singh Ugrahan condemned the police action and announced that the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) would hold a protest on March 26. Former Sangrur MP Simranjit Singh Mann also criticized the crackdown.
Haryana-based farmer leader Azad Palwa accused Punjab of exploiting the divisions among the unions to suppress the agitation.
Clashes and Arrests in Malwa
Over 600 activists, mainly from the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur) and Krantikari Kisan Union, were detained while attempting to block roads and gherao administrative complexes.
Ferozepur Range DIG Swapan Sharma said 280 protesters were taken into preventive custody. In Moga, a group clashed with police while attempting to march towards the DC office.
On the Bathinda-Sriganganagar highway near Gidderbaha in Muktsar, police resorted to a mild cane-charge to disperse BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) members attempting to block traffic, detaining several of them.
Bathinda Range DIG Harjeet Singh confirmed that nearly 270 farmers were detained in Bathinda and Mansa districts.
BKU-Ekta Ugrahan Burns Effigies
BKU-Ekta Ugrahan general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said the faction burned effigies of the Punjab government at 26 locations across 16 districts. “CM Bhagwant Mann is colluding with PM Narendra Modi to suppress the farmers’ demands,” he alleged.
AAP Stresses Road Reopening
In Delhi, AAP reaffirmed its support for the farmers but stressed the need to reopen key roads to protect Punjab’s economy.
Read More: BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) Boycotting Punjab Govt’s Meeting
