Chaos on Mohali roads as dairy farmers stage protest

Mohali, May 21

Dairy farmers from all districts of Punjab today staged a sit-in to press for their demands at the Verka Milk Plant in Phase 6 here today.

The protesting farmers raised slogans against the Punjab Government and blocked the one side of the road from Kharar to Mohali near Phase 6 till late at night. The protesters said they would continue their protest till their demands were met. Later, they rescheduled their protest after being assured of a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday.

Road users had to take long detours to reach their destinations. While the traffic from Mohali to Kharar was unhindered, the vehicles coming from Kharar to Mohali were stopped at the protest site.

“Frequent protests by one group or the other have become a norm in Mohali. Common man is being harassed for no fault of his,” said Baldev Bindra, a resident of Phase 7.

Vehicle owners resorted to wrong-side driving, leading to chaos in the area. Visitors to two main hospitals in the area had to face inconvenience due to the protest. “This is not the right place to protest. Patients and visitors are already suffering, and such protests add to their misery,” said Baljinder Kaur, a visitor.

Meanwhile, Daljit Singh Sadarpura, president, Progressive Dairy Farmers Association (PDFA), said, “Milk rates have not been increased for more than two years. Out expenditure is mainly on wheat and fodder. The rates of cow feed have doubled in the past two years, which had never been seen in the past 25 years of dairy business.”

“We held several meetings with the new government and appealed to them to compensate dairy farmers on the pattern of other states. But the government failed to pay heed to our demands,” he added. He said the government should give them a financial assistance of Rs 7 per litre.

Flyover closed, traffic snarls underneath

Long queues of vehicles were seen on the Kharar-Kurali road near Desumajra as one side of the flyover was closed to traffic in the evening. The road below was clogged with heavy vehicles as those heading to Punjab and HP had to traverse through the congested road below.