Punjab Police removes farmers protesting outside power utility office in Patiala

The Punjab Police on Tuesday removed a group of farmers protesting outside the state power corporations office in Patiala district to press their demandsAs the police cleared the protest site irate farmers blocked roads at several places in the state including Hoshiarpur Batala Bathinda and SamralaThe Samyukta Kisan Morcha Nonpolitical a breakaway faction of the SKM had been holding the protest outside the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited PSPCL office since June 8 opposing the installation of smart meters and demanding that the state government stop charging commercial rates on electricity connections for ancillary businesses such as dairying among othersEarly Tuesday morning a large police force cleared the protest site removed tents pitched by the farmers and vehicles parked on the roadThe police also took some farmers into preventive custody Protesters were taken in buses to different police stations even as they raised slogans against the state governmentThe protesters have been removed with the use of mild force Inspector General of Police Mukhwinder Singh Chhina told reporters in PatialaAlso readSome people in Congress have become seasonal Hindu Rajnath in Madhya PradeshHe said some farmer leaders including Jagjit Singh Dallewal who were on hunger strike were taken for medical checkupDallewal who is the president of Bharti Kisan Union EktaSidhupur strongly condemned the police action when he was being taken away by policemenPolice said all three gates of the PSPCL office in Patiala have been openedThe protesters had squatted outside the gates of PSPCL blocking the entry of officials thus affecting the routine functioning of the power utility They also pitched tents on the road leading to the PSPCL office causing inconvenience to commutersTop wrestler Vinesh Phogat joined the protest on June 11After the police action farmers held protests by blocking highways at some places in the stateIrate farmers blocked the LudhianaChandigarh highway in Samrala and the AmritsarPathankot highway near Batala for some time they saidIn Hoshiarpur farmers blocked vehicular traffic for about two hours at TandaKisan Ganna Sangharsh Committee Punjab president Sukhpal Singh Daffar condemned the forcible removal of farmers and detention of farmer leaders in PatialaHe demanded that the protesters who were taken into custody be releasedIn Bathinda protesters blocked the road leading to Rampura PhulThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeverNews Breaking news Latest breaking news Latest local news National news Latest national news Online news Today news Today news headlines News headlines Latest online news News of the day India News India breaking news India Politics News India live news India Local News India news India News headlines India News Today India news updates India Crime News Crime News Latest Crime News India daily news