Amritsar, January 4
The activists of Bharti Kisan Union Ekta Sidhupur burnt an effigy of the state government outside Hall Gate here on Wednesday, demanding action against an alcohol manufacturing unit in Zira.
The BKU activists stated that the action was held as per the call given by the sanjha morcha of various farmer unions. They stated that the residents of Zira were protesting against the said factory for the past six months and the government seems to be supporting the factory owners not the residents, who are suffering due to the alleged pollution caused by the factory.
Palwinder Singh Mahal, district general secretary, Bharti Kisan Union Ekta Sidhupur said, “We want to know from the state government and especially from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann that why he has changed his stand on these issues. Before elections, he was criticising such factories for ground water pollution and the traditional political parties of patronising these factories, he now seems to be doing the same.”
Mahal said that the farmers would organise a massive protest in Zira on January 9 to express solidarity with the residents of the area, who are protesting to save ground water from being polluted. Raising slogans against the state government, the farmers asked the government to stand with the people and not the corporate houses. They demanded that all kinds of pollutants being thrown into water bodies needed to be checked.
