Farmers block roads, squat on rail tracks in Punjab to protest 'tardy' paddy purchase 

Punjab farmers on Sunday blocked roads and squatted on rail tracks at many places in the state as part of their protest against the alleged tardy procurement of paddy in the ongoing Kharif marketing season.

While the Samyukta Kisan Morcha had given a call for a statewide road blockade from 12 to 3 pm, the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) had also given a call for ‘rail roko’ for three hours.

As farmers blocked roads at several places, including national highways, commuters faced inconvenience. Police, however, had diverted road traffic through alternative routes.

BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said they held their ‘rail roko’ protest at 17 places including Batala, Shahkot (Jalandhar), Bathinda, Ajitwal (Moga), Wallah Phatak (Amritsar), Patti (Tarn Taran), Malout (Muktsar), Jalalabad (Fazilka), Kotakpura (Faridkot), Mansa, Dhablan (Patiala), Sunam (Sangrur), Malerkotla, Qila Raipur (Ludhiana) Lalru (Mohali), Talwandi Bhai (Ferozepur) and Mandiala (Hoshiarpur).

In Ludhiana, farmers disrupted road traffic at several places, including Samrala, Kohara, Khanna, Raikot, Doraha, Payal and Jagraon.

Farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said despite assurances by the state government regarding the smooth procurement of paddy, farmers are facing problems in grain markets.

Meanwhile, farmers, commission agents, and rice millers from Malerkotla, Ludhiana, Sangrur, and Barnala districts staged protests on highways and railway tracks, specifically the Dhuri-Ludhiana railway track, from 12 pm to 3 pm.

In Hoshiarpur, farmers blocked road traffic near Bijli Ghar Chowk, SDM Chowk and Adda Bhangala.

They also staged ‘dharnas’ at various points including Adda Dosarka on the Hoshiarpur-Tanda road, Pur Hiran Bypass Chowk near the Bus Stand in Garhshankar, Sarhala crossing in Garhdiwala, Chandigarh Bypass Chowk, Majarra on the Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh road, Bagpur Sataur, Bhunga on the Hoshiarpur-Dasuya road, and village Singhpur Tarkhana on the Hajipur-Dasuya road.

The protesters also squatted on the railway tracks at village Mandiala on the Hoshiarpur-Jalandhar rail section.

Some farmers' organisations also staged a three-hour dharna on the Phillaur National Highway, during which traffic on the Jalandhar-Phillaur highway remained paralysed.

Long queues of vehicles piled up on the highway as people waited for the road to be cleared. Serpentine queues of vehicles waited the lifting of dharna for hours in the lack of an alternate diversion for transport.

The protesting farmers alleged delay in paddy procurement and its lifting in the state.

They also raised slogans against both the state and central governments, accusing them of failing to begin paddy procurement and lifting operations at state-run mandis.

They demanded immediate commencement of procurement operations, warning that failure to act would lead to an intensification of their agitation.

BKU (Doaba) blocked a road at Sugar mill crossing in Phagwara.

Satnam Singh Sahni, general secretary BKU(D) alleged that there was tardy or virtually no lifting of paddy from ‘mandis’, resulting in delay of further harvesting of paddy in fields as well as the subsequent preparation for sowing of wheat crop.

He demanded plying of special trains for evacuating rice stored in godowns so that the required space for fresh crop was available.

In Amritsar, protesting farmers squatted on Wallha railway crossing to protest against the slow purchase of the paddy crop.

Parminder Singh Ugrah, a local farmer leader in Amritsar, said farmers have blocked the Amritsar-Pathankot rail tracks.

Farmers have also held road blockades at places, including Attari, Kukrawal village near Ajnala town.

In Sangrur, farmers squatted on the rail tracks at the Sunam railway station. In Moga, some farmers blocked Ferozepur-Ludhiana national highway near Duneke.

In Sunam, a protesting farmer leader accused the state government of running away from the purchase of the paddy crop.

Protesters claimed that farmers’ produce was not being lifted at grain markets.

The state rice millers and the commission agents are also supporting the farmers’ protest.

While ‘arthiyas’ (commission agents) are pressing for a raise in their commission, the state rice millers have raked up the issue of space crunch for storing the fresh paddy crop and want the Centre to liquidate the existing wheat and paddy stock to create sufficient space.

The rice millers have also expressed concern over the out-turn ratio (post milling yield) of the PR-126 paddy variety, claiming that it will lead to huge losses to them.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said he would meet the Union consumer affairs minister on October 14 to flag the demands of protesting rice millers and ‘arthiyas’.

Mann had said the demands of the rice millers and commission agents were genuine and the Union Government must take a sympathetic view. — with PTI