The response to the bandh is good as reports from across country pouring in
WEB DESK
Farmers from across India have launched their protest against the three Agriculture Bills passed by Parliament, by giving a call for Bharat Bandh.
As many as 31 farmer organisations are participating in the bandh. Since early morning, farmers in different states started gathering at designated roads, and stopping the movement of all traffic and requesting traders to keep their shops closed.
The response to the bandh is good as reports from Punjab suggest a near lockdown. With the dairy farmers extending support to the farmers in their protest, milk supply to all cities was affected.
In Amritsar, milkmen had supplied milk on Thursday night. In Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh, the movement of industrial goods scheduled for Friday was advanced and highways saw a massive rush of goods carriers leaving the industrial towns between Thursday evening and night.
The protesting farmer organisations have galvanised immense support from farmers and small groups of protesters, with members of each of these 31 organisations laying siege on the main and arterial roads. It is one of the rare occasions when all farmer organisations are protesting in a coordinated manner.
As anger against the Centre is over the passing of the three controversial Bills, especially the Farmer Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, which seeks to simplify the entry of private players in food grain purchase, farmers are all set to intensify their agitation in the coming days. Farmers fear that the government will withdraw from the MSP regime of guaranteed prices for foodgrains