M A I N   N E W S

Farmers to bar Punjab ministers from rural areas
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Rajpura, September 30
Having successfully stopped trains and the vehicular traffic at about 70 places in Punjab, leaders of the Joint Front of farmer organisations have said that they will resort to direct action to stop the entry of Punjab ministers in the rural areas in case the government failed to concede the front’s demand with in a week. The front had organised the ‘rail and rasta roko’ agitation today.

Activists of the front stopped the rail and vehicular traffic on the Ludhiana-Delhi rail section and the Rajpura-Delhi national highway here this afternoon for three hours. They were agitated over the rail mishap in which a number of farmers were injured near Bathinda today.

“The agitation will be intensified. A formal announcement will be made shortly”, said Mr Pishora Singh Sidhupur and Mr Prem Singh Bhangu, two senior leaders of the front. “Our talks with the government failed yesterday because of a wrong perception and interpretation of our demands by the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh”, said Mr Sidhupur. “The Chief Minister was trying to say that his government had nothing to do with the demands of the farmers whereas most of our demands are to be met by the state government”, Mr Sidhupur added.

Criticising the Central Government, Mr Bhangu said it was playing a double role on the issue of the WTO. It was reducing subsidies to the farmers in India according to the wishes of the WTO but opposed the WTO at international forums.

Farmers should be given loans at the rate of interest being charged from the industrialists. “We are also opposed to contract farming because there is no guarantee of a market to farmers. There can not be diversification till alternative crops as replacement of wheat and paddy are provided”, he said.