Qaumi Insaaf Morcha observes first year of agitation at YPS Chowk Mohali

Around 1,500 people joined the peaceful ceremony, where leaders of the morcha announced that on January 20, they will take over toll plazas located on roads leading to Chandigarh, besides those in Ropar, and make them toll free for three hours to register their protest against the central and state governments for not fulfilling their demands

Qaumi Insaaf Morcha, which laid siege to the YPS Chowk in Mohali on January 7, 2023, demanding release of Sikh prisoners who have completed their jail terms, observed the first anniversary of its agitation on Sunday.

Even one year after the agitation was launched on January 7, 2023, one side of the road towards Chandigarh’s Sector 51 remains closed, forcing commuters to move on the wrong side. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

The protesters held path and kirtan ceremonies on Sunday. Scores of cops were deployed near the protest site to avoid any untoward incident.

Around 1,500 people joined the peaceful ceremony, where leaders of the morcha announced that on January 20, they will take over toll plazas located on roads leading to Chandigarh, besides those in Ropar, and make them toll free for three hours to register their protest against the central and state governments for not fulfilling their demands.

The rotary, near the Chandigarh-Mohali border, was completely blocked by the morcha on January 7, 2023, majorly hitting inter-city movement of traffic.

For 241 days, protesters continued to hold traffic to ransom before one side of the road towards Chandigarh’s Sector 51 was opened on September 4, 2023, a day before the Punjab and Haryana high court was to hear the ongoing PIL from NGO ArriveSAFE, seeking removal of the protesters.

But the other side of the road has remained blocked, impeding smooth movement of traffic. Commuters travelling via the rotary between Chandigarh and Mohali are forced to move at a snail’s pace, jostling for space on the single side.

Other than the demand for release of Sikh prisoners, the protesters have sought registration of a murder case against the officials and politicians allegedly responsible for the police action on Sikh protesters at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan, besides seeking probe into the disappearance of 328 swaroops of Guru Granth Sahib.