Farmers Movement Archive

Procurement: Farmers protest delay, SKM calls for stir in Punjab & Haryana today

BATHINDA/YAMUNANAGAR/KARNAL/CHANDIGARH: A day after the Centre decided to defer paddy procurement from October 1 to October 11, protests against the move erupted in parts of Haryana on Saturday. Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) too gave a call to farmers and farm unions to stage protests outside the residences of MPs and MLAs across Punjab and Haryana on Saturday. In Haryana’s Karnal district, BKU (Charuni) led a protest by farm activists. Protests were also staged at the grain markets of Shahabad and Thanesar in Kurukshetra district of Haryana. Arhtiyas, or commission agents, in Jagadhari and Karnal too opposed the Centre’s decision. SKM, a coalition of over 40 farmer unions which is spearheading the ongoing protest against three agri-marketing laws, said farmers will hold simultaneous protests in both states on Saturday. In Punjab, protests will be staged outside houses of Congress MLAs from 10am till the time the government would strat purchasing paddy. In Haryana, the offices of BJP-JJP MLAs and MPs, and district administrations, will be gheraoed, said SKM. In Jagadhari, which falls in Yamunanagar district, arhtiyas held a meeting outside the market committee office and warned the government of an agitation. In Karnal, farm activists led by BKU (Charuni) first held a protest outside the market committee office at Karnal grain market. They then locked the gate of the market committee office and raised slogans against the BJP-JJP government, demanding start of procurement as per the earlier schedule. BKU (Charuni), a constituent of SKM, has backed the protest call. BKU (Charuni) Karnal district president Jagdeep Singh Aulakh Aulakh announced that farmers would gherao the CM’s residence at Prem Nagar in Karnal on Saturday if the government failed to start paddy procurement at the earliest. In Kurukshetra district, farmers first protested at Thanesar grain market, then at Dr BR Ambedkar Chowk and later they parked their paddy-loaded tractor-trolleys inside circumambulation of Brahamsarovar, which were later removed. The farmers said if they do not find any space at grain markets, they will dry their crop in the Brahamsarovar. In Shahabad, farmers sat on a protest inside the office of sub-divisional magistrate. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Charuni) Yamunanagar district president Sanju Gundiana said they would gather at Jagadhri grain market at 10am and proceed with paddy-loaded tractor-trolleys to the residences of Haryana education minister Kanwar Pal and BJP’s Yamunanagar MLA Ghanshyam Dass Arora. “Nearly 30% paddy crop has arrived at the grain market, but the government delayed the procurement by 10 days,” he said. The protesting farmers said paddy was ready to harvest and thousands of quintals of the crop had arrived in grain markets. But on Thursday evening, just hours before the official procurement season was to start, the government issued a notification to defer the procurement by 10 days, causing resentment among the farming community. Aulakh said the government was delaying procurement to evade minimum support price and benefit private players. He added even deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala had earlier announced to commence paddy procurement from September 25. It’s a step towards ending MSP, says Surjewala AICC general secretary and senior Haryana Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Friday criticised the Union and state governments for deferring the paddy procurement season while terming the move as a step towards ending the MSP and mandi system in the state. Surjewala claimed that delayed procurement of paddy is the most cruel and inhumane joke by Narendra Modi-led government in Centre and Khattar-Chautala government in Haryana. “Around 20 lakh metric tonnes of paddy is lying in the open in the mandis of the state. Just imagine the condition of farmers who are waiting for the procurement since September 25.”

The Times of India

2021-10-02

Amritsar