Punjab Assembly pays tributes to farmer Shubhkaran Singh

Chandigarh: The Punjab Assembly on Friday paid tributes to farmer Shubhkaran Singh who died during a clash between farmers and Haryana security personnel.

The members of the House also paid respects to former deputy speaker and former minister Baldev Raj Chawla, and former MLAs Ranjit Singh Talwandi, Parkash Singh Gahrdiwala and Sohan Singh Bodal who passed away recently.

Agniveer Ajay Kumar and Army gunner Gurpreet Singh were also remembered.

Shubhkaran (21) died and 12 police personnel were injured in a clash at Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border on February 21. The clash broke out when protesting farmers camping at the border tried to march towards barricades.

Shubhkaran's mortal remains were cremated at his native place in Bathinda on Thursday.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) are spearheading the farmers' 'Delhi Chalo' march to press the government to accept their demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops and a farm loan waiver.

The House observed a two-minute silence in the memory of the departed souls.

Earlier, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit's address on the opening day of the budget session was disrupted by opposition Congress MLAs who raised the issues of the protesting farmers and resorted to sloganeering.

Amid the uproar, Purohit read out a few lines from his address and told the House that the rest of it be treated as read.