Bathinda/Patiala/Amritsar/Jalandhar/Sangrur: Commercial centres and private schools came to a near-total standstill across several districts in Punjab on Thursday following a statewide shutdown call over the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa.
Private schools and colleges remained shut, while government schools reported thin attendance. The impact was felt across the Malwa region. Mansa, Barnala, and Sangrur districts witnessed total market shutdowns, while educational institutions remained closed. Heavy police deployment seen at key intersections as farmers assembled along national highways. In Doaba, a complete shutdown was observed in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, and Kapurthala. Protesters blocked the Amritsar-New Delhi highway at Paragpur and several stretches in Hoshiarpur, disrupting travel for commuters, including pilgrims heading to Himachal Pradesh’s Chintpurni temple. Police subsequently detained protesters in Jalandhar to clear traffic on the national highway. Protesters gathered at Bhandari Bridge to halt city transport, while members of Akali Dal Waris Punjab De and Panthic groups staged marches through the city centre. Demonstrators led by KMSC leader Sarwan Singh Pandher burned an effigy of chief minister Bhagwant Mann at the Golden Gate in Amritsar, charging the administration with a collapse of law and order and an inability to rein in drug trafficking Chief minister Bhagwant Mann has reiterated his government’s zero-tolerance policy against drug peddling, promising the strictest possible punishment for the accused and warning that conspirators would not be spared while appealing to the public for calm.
