Chandigarh: Nearly 200 SAD workers and leaders, including party president Sukhbir Singh Badal and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia, were booked for blocking traffic during a protest in Punjab's Ferozepur district. Badal and Majithia had spent Thursday night at Manawal on the Harike-Patan road, demanding the Congress government in Punjab withdraw the "false" cases registered against SAD leaders and workers. 

They had alleged that the cases had been lodged at the instance of the Congress dispensation. Their protest in Ferozepur was part of a over 24-hour- long statewide agitation by the SAD that ended yesterday after the state government agreed to accept their demand. Several road blockades were put up by the party on key state and national highways, including the Harike-Patan road, during the protest that had left thousands of commuters and commercial vehicles stranded. Ferozepur SSP Bhupinder Singh Sidhu said that around 200 people belonging to the SAD were booked yesterday under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including that for damage to roads and bridges. 

They also face cases under the National Highways Act, the police said. Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and Kanwaljit Singh were also among those who booked by the police. The protests led by SAD leaders affected vehicular movement on the Ferozepur-Ludhiana, Amritsar-Bathinda, Bathinda-Mansa, Chandigarh-Mansa, Jalandhar-Amritsar and Kharar-Chandigarh roads.