'Bharat Bandh' evokes mixed response in U'khand

Later, they sat on a dharna at the busy clock tower chawk shouting slogans against the new farm laws, causing a brief traffic jam in the area.However, police intervened to restore traffic and detained the PCC president along with his supporters.

A 'Bharat Bandh' called by farmer unions against the agri laws evoked a mixed response in Uttarakhand on Tuesday, with little effect seen in the hill districts of Chamoli, Pauri, Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag, while the border district of Pithoragarh observed a complete strike. In Dehradun, scores of party workers led by PCC president Pritam Singh marched from the state party office to Paltan bazar to enforce the bandh but ran into arguments with shop owners who refused to down their shutters. Later, they sat on a dharna at the busy clock tower chawk shouting slogans against the new farm laws, causing a brief traffic jam in the area.

However, police intervened to restore traffic and detained the PCC president along with his supporters. They were taken to the police lines. Most shops in Rajpur road area in the heart of the town remained open. Traffic was also normal, except for the brief disruption due to the sit-in by Congress workers at clock tower chawk. While the bandh did not have a major impact in Dehradun district with open shops and normal traffic on the roads, farmers organisations hit the streets to enforce the bandh in Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar districts. However, there was no disruption of peace anywhere. Security had been beefed up in all the districts to ensure there was no law and order problem anywhere during the bandh, DGP Ashok Kumar said.

Shops and business establishments at Jaspur, Kashipur, Bajpur, Gadarpur, Kichcha, Sitarganj, Khatima and Nanakmatta remained shut. Led by Congress leader Tilak Raj Behad, party workers shouted slogans against the Centre at Rudrapur and demanded the withdrawal of the farm laws. Former Municipal Council chairperson Meena Sharma, who held the cut out of a plough as the symbol of farmers in her hands, said the Centre will have to repeal the new farm laws. ''We won't tolerate the insult of farmers, our annadatas,'' she said. A report from Haridwar said markets close to the rural areas remained closed in response to the bandh, while it was business as usual for market places in towns. Farmers blocked the Haridwar-Delhi highway on Narson border in Haridwar district with tractor trolleys and trucks loaded with sugarcanes. Congress workers descended on the streets in Jawalapur to convince shop owners to down their shutters in an expression of solidarity with the farmers. INTUC leader Rajveer Chauhan and his supporters burnt an effigy of the Modi government at Kali Mandir tiraha in Bahadarabad.

The bandh was effective in pockets of farmers' influence like Manglaur and Narson but markets in urban areas like Haridwar and Roorkee were open. Superintendent of Police Kamlesh Upadhyay said life was normal in the district. In the hill districts of Chamoli and Uttarkashi, life was normal but Congress workers demonstrated on the streets. They burnt effigies of the central government and shouted slogans. The Bandh had little effect in Pauri and Rudraprayag districts. However, in the border district of Pithoragarh in Kumaon region, the bandh was almost total with the main markets completely closed. Vehicle owners also kept their vehicles off the road in response to an appeal by bandh supporters, coordinator for the district Susheel Khatri said. But no untoward incident was witnessed in any part of the district, circle officer of Pithoragarh TS Rautela said.