According to reports, several Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) members were injured on Monday night as police reportedly lathicharged protesting farmers outside the Lambi tehsil office in the Muktsar district of Punjab.
‘Seven injured in police lathicharge on farmers in Punjab’s Lambi’https://t.co/mBUjQoQtze
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) March 29, 2022
The incident happened when a group of farmers were protesting against the long-delayed compensation for pink bollworm damage to their cotton harvests. They also allegedly kept 12 government officials hostage inside a sub-tehsil office for several hours.
According to police, a group of more than 100 farmers protested outside the Lambi sub-tehsil on Monday under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). Protesters stormed the office building in the late afternoon, and kept officials hostage until police freed them at midnight.
Later, the police filed an FIR, identifying ten farmers as well as over a hundred other unnamed persons. Gurpal Singh Singhewala, Harpal Singh Killianwali, Bhupinder Singh Channu, Davinder Singh Maan, Kala Singh Sanghewala, Kala Singh Purankhurad, Jagdeep Singh Khuddian, Rampal Singh Gaggar, and Manjinder Singh Sran are among the farmers identified in the FIR.
12 government personnel were taken hostage, according to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sandeep Kumar Malik. He denied that police used force on farmers in order to liberate the officials.
“We freed the officials in a restrained and peaceful manner. No force was used. Before moving to free the officials, we requested them (farmers) many times that they can hold their dharna but the government officials performing their duty cannot be taken captive,” he stated.
The pink bollworm attack, according to Gurpal Singh Singhewala, president of BKU (Ugrahan) in Lambi block, has ruined the cotton crop in Muktsar. “However, to date, just a few farmers have received compensation. We’d been doing dharnas since September of last year, but to no effect,” he stated.
“On March 28, we began a new dharna outside the tehsil office. The tehsildar was not permitted to return home, but after 11.30 p.m., the police lathicharged on the protestors to coerce them to let the tehsildar go, and then arrested us,” Singhewala further added.
