Bus service in Punjab to remain shut, SGPC, SAD supports bandh call
CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today said that next round of meeting between the protesting farmer leaders and Union Government would be held on Sunday, February 18 at Chandigarh even as Bharat Bandh would be observed as schdeduled.
Bus services in Punjab would remain closed due to bandh call, the SAD and SGPC have also supported the bandh call and all education institutes of SGPC and its offices will remain closed on Friday.
Chief Minister after the meeting with the Union Ministers and farmerrs said that next round of meeting will be held on Sunday, February 18 evening. He said that consensus has been achieved at various points and more important issues will be resolved soon. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that he had already brought the Union government to talk to the farmers and this issue will be resolved through talks only. Three Union Ministers including Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai participated in the talks on Thursday which remained inconclusive.
The Chief Minister said that as custodian of the state he will not allow any section of society to suffer due to the protest. He said that all the supplies will be uninterruptedly assured in the state. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that he had asked the Union government to ensure that Haryana government does not bully the farmers of the state who are doing their protest peacefully.
Chief Minister said that they are the advocates of the farmers and he had participating in the meeting just because the food growers had desired so. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that he is personally keeping a tab over the entire situation adding that all the hospitals in the state have been put on high alert. He said that till yet 54 farmers have been seriously injured and the state government will provide them with free treatment.
The Chief Minister said that the state government fully supports the demands being raised by the farmers of Punjab. He reiterated that barbed fences have been put on the borders of state with Haryana to segregate Punjab from India which is not fair. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that this type of step motherly treatment with the farmers of the state is unwarranted and undesirable.