On Day 2 of the protest in Amritsar, there was toll-free vehicle traffic

Farmers affiliated with the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugraha) continued to demonstrate against the government’s use of force against agitated farmers on Sunday, preventing commuters from accessing the district’s toll plazas for the second day in a row.

At the Amritsar-Gurdaspur National Highway, the Amritsar-Attari National Highway, the Mananwala National Highway, and the Kathunangal National Highway, the farmers made sure that commuters’ cars could pass without having to pay tolls.

The Gurdaspur BKU (U) president, Lakhwinder Singh Manjiawali, said, “As part of the protest, the farmers have made 22 toll plazas across 13 districts of the state free for commuters.” He said that the demonstration would carry on until the farmers’ demands were met by the government.

The union’s leaders said that before releasing the next action plan, they will await the conclusion of their meeting with the Central Government officials. They declared that the toll plaza protests would go on until top leadership unveiled the new program.

The district president of Amritsar, Kashmir Singh Dhangai, said that it is illegal to use rubber bullets and tear gas on peacefully protesting farmers. We condemn the acts of violence and urge the administration to carry out the obligations it agreed to during the last Delhi protest. He said that despite Ajay Mishra Tenny’s apparent obvious involvement in the Lakhimpur Kheri riots, the government had maintained Tenny in the Union Cabinet as Minister of State for Home Affairs.

The leaders of the farmers said that since input costs have surpassed output prices, the lack of MSP on a number of crops has forced the farmers into a debt trap. They said that in addition to being driven to commit suicide, farmers and agricultural laborers are severely impacted by institutional and non-institutional debt.