Accept farmers' demands if you want me to end fast: Farmer leader Dallewal to Punjab govt
Chandigarh (PTI): Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur) president Jagjit Singh Dallewal on Tuesday said the Punjab government should accept farmers' demands if it wants him to end his fast, even as doctors advised him against continuing with it as his blood sugar level dropped.
Dallewal began his fast unto death on Saturday to press farmers' demands like more compensation for their lands acquired for national highway projects and withdrawal of cases registered against some of them during the agitation against the now-repealed farm laws.
"If they (government) want me to end my fast, they should accept the demands of the farmers," Dallewal told reporters at the protest site in Punjab's Faridkot district.
A medical team has been stationed at the protest site to monitor the farmer leader's health. Doctors attending to Dallewal said his blood sugar level is low.
The district administration and senior police officials have been persuading Dallewal to end his fast.
On Monday evening, Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, who is the AAP MLA from Kotkapura in Faridkot, met Dallewal and urged him to end his fast.
The farmers' protest entered its seventh day on Tuesday. The BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) is spearheading the protests in Amritsar, Mansa, Patiala, Faridkot and Bathinda in Punjab.
Dallewal had earlier accused the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of acting like the BJP did during the farmers' stir against the farm laws.
He had alleged that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann deceived farmers by not fulfilling their demands that he had accepted earlier.
Farmers were compelled to stage sit-ins on roads after their protests outside the offices of deputy commissioners did not yield any positive response from the state government, he had said.
Mann had slammed the farmers' unions on Friday for frequently blocking roads in Punjab as part of their protests.
Hitting back, Dallewal had asked that if their sit-ins were wrong, then why did AAP leaders join the protests against the farm laws at the Delhi borders.
Different farmer unions have held sit-ins in Faridkot, Amritsar, Patiala, Mansa and Bathinda districts over the past few days.
The protesting farmers are also demanding more compensation for crop damage due to inclement weather and pest attack.
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2 days' WFH for govt offices, Metro use by ministers: Delhi CM's call for fuel conservation
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Thursday announced a slew of measures including two days of 'work from home' (WFH) for government offices, use of Metro trains on Mondays by ministers and officers, and a voluntary 'no-vehicle day' every week.
Gupta said in a press conference attended by her Cabinet colleagues that the government has drawn an extensive plan under "Mera Bharat, Mera Yogdan" to implement the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saving fuel and wise expenditure.
She said all Delhi government offices will follow WFH two days a week. The private sector will also be requested to follow it, she said.
Gupta said all ministers, officers and she herself will use Metro for commuting on Mondays while people will be requested to observe 'no-vehicle day' every week.
The government has also decided to cancel all official foreign visits by ministers for one year while no big events will be hosted by it for the next three months, she said.
The chief minister said petrol and diesel quotas of the Delhi government officers have also been slashed by 20 per cent.
Earlier, Gupta headed a meeting with all her Cabinet ministers and senior officers of the government to discuss ways to save fuel and other resources amid global uncertainty over crude oil and gas supplies.
The chief minister has also cut down on her carcade by 60 per cent, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to people to spend wisely and save fuel in view of the war in West Asia.
The chief minister's convoy now has only four vehicles, including two EVs.
