Punjab's Deputy Inspector General, Jails, Lakhwinder Singh Jakhar on Sunday submitted his resignation in protest against the contentious farm laws, saying "he's a farmer first and a police officer later".

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Jakhar, 56, who was suspended in May for allegedly taking monthly bribe from jail officials, was reinstated two months ago.

In his resignation letter, Jakhar, who also served the Indian Army, wrote: "I am a farmer first and a police officer later. Whatever position I have got today, it is because my father worked as a farmer in the fields and he made me study. Hence, I owe my everything to farming."

He told the media that his mother encouraged him to resign so as to sit with farmers in Delhi.

"I am likely to visit Delhi soon," he added.

Meanwhile, the farmers' agitation entered its 18th day on Sunday, with farmers threatening to block the Delhi-Jaipur highway.

"Thousands of farmers will begin a tractor march from Shahjahanpur in Rajasthan and block the Jaipur-Delhi main road," Sanyukta Kisan Andolan leader Kamal Preet Singh Pannu had said on Saturday.

The farmer union leaders have also said they will sit on a hunger strike from 8 am to 5 pm on December 14 at Singhu border.

Farmers have been protesting in and around the national capital since November 26 against the Farmers` Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance, and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

(With IANS inputs)