Farmers return to streets; add to govt woes
Saturday, 24/10/2015
http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/
Stage protests near residences of several ministers to seek adequate relief for loss to cotton crop due to whitefly attack
Moga : Farmers and farm workers carried out a protest march on the Moga-Ferozepur national highway today and later staged a demonstration in front of the residence of Agriculture Minister Tota Singh in support of their demands.
They are seeking higher compensation for cotton growers who lost their crop due to the whitefly attack and remunerative rates for basmati crop, besides other demands related to the welfare of peasants.
Sukhdev Singh Kokri, general secretary of the BKU (Ekta), demanded a relief of Rs 40,000 per acre for farmers whose crop has been damaged by the whitefly attack, Rs 20,000 per family compensation for farm workers, Rs 4,500 per quintal for basmati Pusa-1509 variety, and Rs 5,000 per quintal for basmati Pusa-1121 variety.
He sought the release of due payment of sugarcane farmers by private mills, debt relief and Rs 5 lakh financial assistance to next of kin of farmers who committed suicide.
Farmers raised slogans against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Tota Singh and levelled allegations of corruption in the purchase of ‘fake’ pesticides for the cotton crop, which caused huge losses to farmers.
The BKU leader alleged that both the Chief Minister and Tota Singh had not pleaded the case of farmers before Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to which adequate compensation had not been released by the Centre.
He alleged that the Chief Minister did not listen to the problems of farmers, forcing them to take to the streets.
The BKU leader threatened to intensify their agitation if their demands were not met by the government at the earliest.
He said the state government would be responsible for inconvenience being faced by the public due to their agitations. “We will not call off our agitation any cost”, he added.
Dharna near Dhindsa’s residence
Sangrur: Hundreds of farmers and labourers on Friday staged a dharna near the residence of Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa. Despite the efforts of the police to prevent farmers from reaching Dhindsa’s residence, a large number of protesters gathered near the minister’s residence and staged a dharna for three hours. However, the police rounded up 40 farmers and took them to Sadar police station, Sangrur. They were released later.
Dilbag Singh Harigarh, a district-level leader of the BKU (Ugrahan), said the police also detained their two leaders — Jagtar Singh Kalajhar and Sham Dass Kanjhli — from their houses in the wee hours today. However, they were released later in the day.
He said hundreds of farmers could not reach Dhindsa’s residence as the police did not allow them to do so. He said these farmers staged dharnas where the police stopped them. He said a demonstration was also staged at Chathe Nakte village, near Sunam.
Protesters detained, released
Hoshiarpur: Farmers and farm workers marching towards the residence of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mohinder Kaur Josh for gherao were detained by the police on Friday. However, they were released
later in the day. Earlier, the protesters were stopped by police personnel in front of the local ITI where they staged a dharna. Alleging ignorance by the state and Central governments, the protesters also raised slogans. Farmer leaders condemned police action and demanded that a relief of Rs 40,000 per acre for farmers and Rs 20,000 for farm workers.
