Farmers call off proposed stir after meeting Mann

The farmer organisations took the decision to call off their stir following the three-hour long meeting their representatives had with the chief minister at Punjab Bhawan

CHANDIGARH: The farmer unions on Tuesday called off their proposed agitation from August 3 after their meeting with chief minister Bhagwant Mann who accepted most of their “genuine demands”.

The farmer unions on Tuesday called off their proposed agitation from August 3 after their meeting with chief minister Bhagwant Mann who accepted most of their “genuine demands”.

The farmer organisations took the decision to call off their stir following the three-hour long meeting their representatives had with the chief minister at Punjab Bhawan here. Bharti Kisan Union (Sidhupur) and several other farmer organisations had announced the protest against the state government over issues including the non-payment of sugarcane dues and compensation for cotton crop damaged by whitefly.

After the meeting, Mann said that the due amount to be paid to sugarcane farmers by Sugarfed stands at ₹195.60 crore, according to an official release. “Out of this, ₹100 crore will be paid by August 15 this year and the remaining ₹95.60 crore will be cleared by September 7, clearing all the pending arrears of government and cooperative sugar mills,” he added. The CM said that private sugar mills, except Phagwara sugar mill, have assured that they will pay their arrears by September 7.

On another demand, he said that the state government will explore the feasibility of cancelling all the FIRs registered against farmers during Covid and others, adding that regarding cases registered by Railway Police Force during farmers’ agitation, he will take up the issue with the central government. He said that the “process of giving jobs to farmers martyred during farm agitation is already going on.” “All the remaining families of farmers attaining martyrdom will be handed over compensation soon,” he said.