Farmers lay siege to Dhaliwal’s Ajnala office

Following a state-wide call given by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), its local unit gheraoed the office of cabinet minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and started a ‘pakka morcha’ (indefinite agitation) at Ajnala. The farmer union is demonstrating against the tardy procurement of paddy, low prices of basmati, shortage of DAP fertiliser and other issues since October 13.

The BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) made the toll plazas free for public at three locations. Demonstrations were held at three toll plazas including Nijjarpura, Varyam Nangal and Chiddan of Amritsar district for the second consecutive day. At the same time, union activists and farmers led by district president Kashmir Singh started a protest in front of the office of cabinet minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal today.

Dr Parminder Singh Pandori, a senior leader, said that the Punjab government has failed to ensure procurement and lifting of crop. He said that the government knows that the arrival of crop will start from October 1, but no proper arrangements were made. The leaders said that the festival season has started and Diwali is approaching. The economy of Punjab is based mainly on paddy. If the procurement of paddy does not start at the right time, then all business will suffer.

Union leader Kashmir Singh said, “The sowing of wheat will start after some time, but there is not even a single bag of DAP fertiliser in cooperative societies. Farmers would be unable to sow the next crop due to the negligence of government.” The leaders of BKU Ekta Ugrahan strongly condemned the misbehaviour of the police with leaders of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM).