‘Tardy’ paddy procurement: Now, KMM activists hit the streets, commuters pangs continue

Farmers under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) on Saturday blocked roads at four places in Punjab for an indefinite period to protest against ‘tardy’ paddy procurement and lifting and other issues

Farmers under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) on Saturday blocked roads at four places in Punjab for an indefinite period to protest against ‘tardy’ paddy procurement and lifting and other issues.

Farmers stage a protest against the Punjab Government over various demands including paddy procurement in Sangrur on Saturday. (ANI)

The protests were held at Badarukhan on the Sangrur-Bathinda highway in Sangrur, Dagru on the Moga-Ferozepur highway in Moga, Sathiali bridge on the Gurdasour-Tanda highway in Gurdaspur and Batala railway station, farmer leaders said.

In Phagwara, farmers have already been holding a protest on the Amritsar-Delhi national highway for the past many days. Saturday’s protest came a day after the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) held statewide road blockades.

Farmers also blocked the Ludhiana-Jalandhar highway in Phagwara. Doaba Kisan Committee president Manjit Singh Rai, KMM leader Sarwan Singh Pandher and Bhartiya Kisan Union (Krantikari) president Surjit Singh Phul are among those who led the dharna.

The activists which included women shouted slogans against the centre and state governments.

Pandher requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to solve farmers’ issues.

Talking to reporters, he appealed to Modi, “Listen to our ‘fariyad’ (passionate plea) for solving farmers issues.” Pandher said their protests in Phagwara, Batala, Sangrur and Moga districts will be indefinite.

He said the Centre has not been able to reach any agreement with rice millers, while the Punjab government hasn’t been able to put pressure on the Union government.

The rice millers have been expressing concern over the out-turn ratio (post-milling yield) of the PR-126 variety, claiming that it will cause them huge losses. They said the out-turn ratio of this variety is less than 67%, which has been fixed by the Centre.

The rice millers are demanding to be allowed to give 64kg of rice out of one quintal of paddy because of the lesser yield of the PR-126 variety.

“Paddy is not being lifted or properly procured. The season for sowing new crops like wheat, potato and peas is already on,” Pandher said, adding “Shortage of DAP fertiliser and stubble burning penalties were other burning issues of the protest.”

Pandher urged traders and other sections of society to cooperate with farmers and also regretted the inconvenience to people due to blockades.

Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) president Manjit Singh Rai and general secretary Satnam Singh Sahni also addressed the protesters.

Police diverted traffic through alternative routes but commuters faced inconvenience due to the blockade.

Notably, paddy lifting from mandis in Punjab has been hit after the state rice millers refused to mill the paddy till their demands were met.

While the ruling AAP blamed the BJP-led Centre for not evacuating foodgrain stock in the state to create sufficient space for storing fresh crops, the opposition parties “Congress and Akali Dal have lashed out at the Bhagwant Mann government for the slow paddy procurement and lifting.

With inputs from agencies