Bathinda, December 9 Alleging discrimination, the Punjab Pradesh Palledar Mazdoor Union on Monday staged a protest and gheraoed the office of Deputy Commissioner. The protest was led by union leaders Jasbir Singh Goniana, Tikka Singh, Gurvinder Singh Bucho, Hansa Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Lachman Singh and Surjit Singh. Palledar union members demanded that the contract system should be scrapped in the state food agencies and instead they should be paid directly through workers’ management committee. The protesters demanded that the food agencies should clear their payment for loading trucks under the Atta-Dal scheme. They alleged that families of palledars were going through hard times due to non-payment by the food agencies. The protesters alleged that food agencies were pressurising them to do stacking of 580 bags of paddy instead of 540 bags, which was against the law. The union members threatened that if the district administration and the food supply department did not pay heed to their genuine demands, they would be left with no other option but to go on strike. Some AAP leaders also reached the protest site, but union leaders did not allow them to address the gathering.

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