M A I N   N E W S

Potato flood on roads
Six growers booked
From Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, Jan 16 — Hundreds of potato growers of the Doaba region took to streets and dumped hundreds of truck-loads of potato on all main roads, making life nightmarish for residents and hundreds of road users here this afternoon.

Irked over indifference by the state government and the Government of India towards their problems, caused by glut of the crop and the non-fixation of the Minimum Support Price (MSP), farmers, on a call given by the Potato Growers Association, filled trailers with potatoes and surprised the residents by emptying these on the GT Road, in front of The Tribune Sub-office and opposite Apeejay College and concluded their two-hour novel protest march by holding a rally at the District Administrative Complex. The association president, Mr Raghbir Singh, handed over a memorandum of demands to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr K. Shiva Prasad. It is interesting, the district administration and the police was a mute spectator to the whole show even as the protesters and their leaders, mostly big potato growers, were in a mood to get themselves arrested. Speculations were rife that the administration, which knew agitation programme of the farmers in advance, had been directed by top authorities to remain inert, possibly as they did not want the situation to take an ugly turn in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections.

The drama started unfolding, when hundreds of farmers astride 400-500 tractor-trailers, virtually “invaded” the city around 11 a.m. and started off-loading their produce at the busy BSF roundabout and after an hour the whole city looked as if there potatoes had rained. Since crushing of the crop under wheels caused a thick sheet of vegetable slush, it got to be a trying time for drivers of small vehicles, who were seen testing their driving skills to get out of the potato quagmire. Students, working women and their two wheelers were also trapped in the slush, forcing the traffic wing of the police to swing into action and divert the vehicular traffic via alternative routes. At a point, the situation turned so worse that the administration had to request the Municipal Corporation to help clear the roads of heaps of potatoes. Armed with tractor-trailers, tippers and JCBs, the Corporation staff took five hours to clear the roads and finally restore traffic.

Meanwhile, at least six leaders of potato growers were booked by the district police for causing damage to public property by dumping hundreds of quintals of potatoes on all major city roads here today.