A day after farm unions and the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) in Punjab extended support to the protesting farmers at Shambhu and Khanauri borders with the state, Haryana farm union leader Gurnam Singh Charuni on Thursday announced that his Bharatiya Kisan Union faction would picket toll plazas on Friday and take out a tractor march on Saturday.
Addressing reporters after a meeting of his faction’s office-bearers in Kurukshetra on Thursday, Charuni said that toll plazas would be converted to free passages from 12 noon to 3pm in Haryana on February 16.
“Apart from Haryana, toll plazas will be made free in parts of Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh, where we have representatives,” he said.
The union will take out a tractor march in every tehsil of Haryana on Saturday in solidarity with farmers protesting at the Haryana-Punjab border.
BKU (Charuni) spokesperson Rakesh Bains said that on February 18, Charuni will chair a meeting of farmers unions, khap panchayats and worker unions in Kurukshetra to decide on the further course of action.
“I’m not going to join the protesting farmers in Punjab, but will decide how the protests can be taken forward in Haryana during the February 18 meeting,” Charuni said.
Earlier, he had supported the demands of the protesting farmers but also criticised them for not taking everyone along when the demand for legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) affects every farmer.