In Punjab's Jalandhar, labourers stage protest near minister's home, demand employment, land rights
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Jalandhar: Hundreds of rural and farm labourers, under a state-wide call by joint front organisations, staged a two-hour protest sit-in on Monday near the residence of Punjab minister Mohinder Bhagat in Urban Estate, Phase II here.
Demonstrators, including men and women from Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, and Jalandhar districts, gathered to press for a range of demands.
Labour leader Kashmir Singh Ghugshor said that their demands included a guarantee of permanent employment, a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 for women according to election promises, an increase in pension amounts, leasing one-third of panchayat land to dalit labourers at affordable rates, cancellation of the land pooling policy, provision of plots to the homeless and needy, distribution of land exceeding legal limits to landless labourers and farmers, debt waiver, and the restoration of the right to organise and struggle.
Labour leaders argued that the land pooling policy being implemented by the Bhagwant Mann govt in Punjab would not only facilitate the appropriation of Punjab's fertile lands by corporate houses and lead to the displacement of farmers but would also prove disastrous for rural and farm labourers already suffering from housing shortage, unemployment, debt, and suicides. "This policy should be immediately revoked," they said, while also demanding the release of detained labour leaders.
by Taboola
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Addressing the gathering, labour leaders Tarsem Peter, Darshan Nahar, Gurmesh Singh, Harmesh Malri, and Gyan Saidpuri said that the AAP govt has proven to be anti-labour and supportive of corporate entities, landlords, and rural elites. They accused the AAP administration of intensifying police repression to suppress the democratic rights of protesting labourers and farmers.
Minister Bhagat emerged from his residence to accept the memorandum of demands. He assured the protesters of an early meeting with the chief minister to address the outstanding issues.
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