The farmers did not agree even after persuasion from officials.
Farmers protest in Punjab (Aaj Samaj), Phagwara: Due to lack of fluidity in rice procurement, the situation remains worrying in many districts of the state. When farmers come to the market after harvesting the rice harvest from the fields, they neither buy it there nor is there any place available to store it. So there is anger among farmers. This is the reason why farmers are on strike in Phagwara for two days now. The situation here resembles the Tikri border. Farmers have parked their vehicles loaded with crops on the roads. Furthermore, they are preparing langar on the roadside and have gone on indefinite strike.
Strike organized under the leadership of BKU Doaba
Farmers frustrated over non-sale of their crops have been staging a protest under the leadership of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Doaba) since Monday. Due to lack of rice collection in mandis, thousands of farmers are on the roads with tractors loaded with rice. On Tuesday, Deputy Commissioner Kapurthala Amit Kumar Panchal and SSP Vatsala Gupta held a meeting with farmer leaders at the SDM office, but the meeting yielded no results. Farmers have staged a protest on GT Road. Langar is also served here during the day.
CM demanded central government intervention
On the other hand, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is trying to solve the problems of farmers. It has sought the central government’s intervention to handle the rapidly deteriorating rice procurement situation in the state. The CM spoke to the Union Home Minister over phone and demanded a permanent solution to the rice storage issue. Mann said due to lack of rice storage in the state, rice millers are avoiding purchasing paddy rice, thus there is no space left to store paddy rice in the state’s mandis. He said that the Central Government should solve this problem as soon as possible. It may be noted that today the rice millers of the state will also meet Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss their demands.
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