Protesters with their jugadu carts in Sandhwan village of Faridkot district on Sunday. (Express Photo) A day after Punjab government rolled back its orders banning jugaad vehicles, several owners of such make-shift carts protested in Faridkot’s Sandhwan village outside the house of Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan. The protesters were demanding cancellation of challans issued to them for plying their jugaad carts.
Several protesters reached the protest site in their ‘jugadu rehdas‘ carrying copies of their challans. The protest was led by Bharti Kisan Union Ekta (Fateh).
Harjinder Singh, president of the union, said, “We request Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann to seriously decide which order they want to issue. They issue one order in the morning and then withdraw it in the evening saying that CM wasn’t aware of it. It is hard to believe that officers are issuing orders without even consulting him. Now that they have withdrawn their orders, they need to clarify on the challans issued as well.”
Mohinder Pal, a rehda driver from Sandhwan village said, “I use it to bring vegetables from sabzi mandi so as to sell them in the market. I am doing hard work to run my family, if the government is not keen to run these rehdas, they must provide us with an alternative. We are self-employed…if you can’t provide jobs, you have no right to snatch them.”
Bhola Singh, another motorcycle cart driver, said, “Now after facing protest they have withdrawn the orders but what if they issue them again after 3-4 months. We are the aam aadmi who voted for this government and they are trying to harm us soon after coming to power. Now they need to clarify what will happen to our challans which have been issued in the past few weeks.”
Sharanjit Singh, another protester, said, “If people will have no means to earn, they will indulge in anti-social activities. The government needs to have a plan before issuing any order, otherwise they will only be embarrassing themselves again and again.”
Several cart owners said that they earned Rs 400-500 per day by transporting material on their jugaad vehicles.
Orders banning these jugaad carts were issued in the past as well, but never implemented seriously. Sandhwan, meanwhile, was not at his village house on Sunday and the protesters left lodging their protest for about an hour.
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