COURTESY HT OCT 5

Farmers lay siege to corporate-owned fuel stations, stores

Farmers protesting at a fuel station owned by the Reliance Petroleum at Kheri village in Sangrur district. HT PHOTO
SANGRUR : Farmers in Sangrur and Barnala districts on Sunday laid siege to the fuel stations and stores owned by the corporate houses in protest against the Centre’s new agriculture laws on the fourth consecutive day as part of their indefinite ‘rail roko’ agitation.

Members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU Ekta-Ugrahan), including women, staged protests outside nearly 10 fuel stations of the Reliance Petroleum and four of Essar Group at Kheri, Malerkotla, Lehra, Bhawanigarh, Sunam, Benra, Toor Banjara and Katron villages of Sangrur and Bhotna, Dhaula, Mana Pindi and Sanghera villages of Barnala.

The protesters also staged a sit-in outside the MBR Silo at Chhajli of Sangrur and a D-Mart store in Barnala. “We are protesting against the corporate houses whose owners are the Prime Minister’s friends. When they will face losses, they will complain with Modi who will know about our protests,” said farmer leader Roop Singh.