Punjab Bandh: Why sanitation workers are protesting
Punjab Bandh July 30: What's shut today Barnala Hoshiarpur Sangrur Tarn Taran Samana (Patiala district) Punjab Bandh Today: What's still open Punjab Bandh Reason: Why
Punjab Bandh July 30: What's shut today Barnala Hoshiarpur Sangrur Tarn Taran Samana (Patiala district) Punjab Bandh Today: What's still open Punjab Bandh Reason: Why is Punjab witnessing shutting down today? Live Events Sanitation Workers' Protests What protesters are demanding Dismissal, not just suspension, of the Deputy Superintendent of Police linked to the incident A case registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita to be invoked Long-standing service demands of municipal workers to finally be addressed Punjab Bandh: The government's response so far as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Addas a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Shops stayed locked, markets fell quiet, and streets in several Punjab towns turned into protest processions on Thursday as a state-wide bandh, called by sanitation workers, took hold, a PTI report stated.
The trigger goes back eight days, to a lathi-charge in Barnala that has since snowballed into one of the biggest labour flashpoints Punjab has seen in months. Here's the full picture: what's closed, what's still running, and the chain of events that led to today's shutdown.Commercial life ground to a halt in multiple districts, with traders' bodies throwing their weight behind the striking workers. Markets and business hubs went dark in:Shopkeepers pulled down shutters, transport thinned out, and ordinary errands got harder to run in these pockets, even as the rest of the state saw only patchy disruption.Essential services were kept out of the bandh's reach. Hospitals stayed operational, chemists kept dispensing medicines, ambulances kept rolling, and emergency responders remained on call throughout the day. Organisers were careful to ring-fence anything life-critical from the shutdown — a distinction that's held even as tempers have risen elsewhere.On July 22, municipal authorities in Barnala were running a cleanliness drive when things turned ugly, sanitation staff allegedly pelted police with stones and garbage bags, trying to stop the operation in its tracks.
Police responded with a lathi-charge. Within days, what began as a local scuffle over a civic drive had turned into a state-wide flashpoint.Unions representing safai karamcharis say the force used was excessive, and they've refused to let the matter drop. Today's bandh, backed by a coalition of employee unions and Dalit organisations, is their loudest response yet.Hoshiarpur saw one of the more striking demonstrations. Members of the Municipal Corporation Safai Karamchari Union, a large contingent of women among them, gathered outside the Corporation office before riding out on two-wheelers through the city's bazaars. Union president Karanjot Adiya led the march. Protesters carried black flags and brooms, tied black bands around their arms, and shouted slogans against the AAP government.A heavy police contingent was posted across the city through the day as a precautionary measure.Similar scenes played out elsewhere. In Barnala, one protester described the mood as one of solidarity beyond just the sanitation workforce.
The BriefWire