Punjab farmers disrput rail traffic; lay demands on table

The farmer organisations BKU Ekta Ugrahan, Kisan Sangharsh Committee (Satnam Pannu) and Kisan Sangharsh Committee (Kanwalpreet Pannu) announced to keep disrupting the rail traffic till Tuesday evening. They are agitated over the procurement agencies harassing farmers in procurement of wheat and tardy lifting of the procured grains.

The 3 organisations disrupted the rail traffic on 3 different routes to Delhi- Barnala, Mansa and Devidaspura.

The farmers have demanded hassle free procurement of wheat and lifting, Rs.500 per quintal bonus for low yield of wheat, Rs.35,000 per acre compensation for wheat crops damaged in untimely rains and Rs.10 lakh compensation to the families of the farmer who had committed suicide due to debt or difficult economic conditions.

Photo: Times Of India

The trains were halted at different stations and some were diverted through alternative routes. The passengers had to face lot of inconvienience. The railway authorities seemed dubious in revealing the number of trains that were halted or diverted through alternative routes.

BKU Ekta Ugrahan General Secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri said that the Narendra Modi government is directly responsible for the harrassment of the farmers in grain markets as procurement agencies are failing to procure grains due to strict procurement specifications. The untimely rains have caused an increase in moisture content and procurement agencies are not coming forward in procuring. Also, due to limited coverage storage capacity, the lifting of the procured grains is very slow.

Other farmer leaders Satnam Singh and Joginder Singh said that farmers are commiting suicide due to harsh economic conditions but still the union government is working under the economic policies layed out by the United States and other world powers.

The activists stated that 30 farmers have committed suicide in Punjab alone over a month whereas nearly 800 farmers have sought suicide across the nation but the authorities haven’t woken up from their sleep. They demanded that the loans of all farmers be waived off and the suicide hit families be given a compensation of Rs.10 lakh. As major harvesting has been done by the machines, the labourers are unemployed and the state government should provide them with 5 quintal wheat to each labour family.

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About Shruti Dabholkar

Shruti Dabholkar is a young and an aspiring journalist who covers political news on the national front. She is an ambitious and desiring girl who finds politics interesting. She writes articles for Spectralhues. She can be followed on Twitter: @Shruti_d9.