Bathinda: After a day-long confrontation with police, 194 activists of BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) were sent to judicial custody late Saturday night over protests demanding resolution of farm debt-related issues. Of them, 145 were sent to Faridkot jail and 49 to Bathinda jail.Those arrested include BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) state general secretary Kaka Singh Kotda, state vice-president Jasbir Singh, Muktsar district president Beant Singh and Fazilka district general secretary Lakhwinder Singh.Angry over the arrests, the organisation on Sunday announced a Jail Bharo campaign, under which daily jathas of farmers will present themselves for court arrest.Police had on Friday detained farmers near Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Development Banks (PADBs) and at various points leading to the banks to prevent them from assembling for a protest.The BKU had called the protest over three demands: one, return of blank cheques collected by PADBs from farmers against loans; two, introduction of a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme for loan accounts; and three, compensation for valuables allegedly stolen from the Shambhu and Khanauri morchas.BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) president Jagjit Singh Dallewal said a large number of activists were on their way to the protest site when police detained them.The organisation has been protesting outside PADBs in 12 districts for more than three months. After its demands remained unresolved, it started a morcha near the residence of assembly speaker at Sandhwan village on Aug 5. Police removed the protesters and detained activists on Aug 14.Faridkot SP (investigations) Narinder Singh confirmed that 194 protesters had been sent to Faridkot and Bathinda jails.
