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Workers’ strike hits wheat procurement in Sangrur
Mandi workers in Sangrur district went on strike after the state government increased their wage by only 12 paise instead of the promised 25%. This disrupted wheat procurement in the region.
Wheat procurement was hit in Sangrur district due to a strike of mandi workers (labourers). No work of unloading, loading, cleaning and weighting of grains were carried out at majority of the district grain markets on Monday.
They went on a strike after the state government increased only 12 paise in their wage against the promise of 25% increase. They were demanding the government to implement what they had promised a few days ago.
According to the workers, chief minister Bhagwant Mann promised to hike their wages by 25% a few days ago. But in the revised wage list, they get only a 0.93% increase.
Raj Kumar, alias Raju, president of the Mandi Mazdoor Union, Sangrur, said, “We wait for the procurement season to begin only to earn ₹ 10,000 to ₹ 12,000. It is hard to run a house with such a meagre amount. However, we had high hopes from the CM. We had distributed sweets in grain markets when he promised to give a 25% hike in wages.”
Later in the evening, the workers ended their strike after the government fixed a meeting over the issue on April 25.
