Farmers Movement Archive

BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) protest for cotton damage relief continues

Bathinda: Farm organisation BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) continued for the 13th day its protest outside the residence of Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal at Badal village here on Sunday to demand fair compensation for cotton crop loss due to pink bollworm attack. The farm outfit’s protest is being staged to demand a compensation of Rs 60,000 per acre for loss. The state government had on October 13 held a meeting with the protesters and offered a compensation of Rs 12,000 per acre as per state government policy, but the outfit rejected it. It said the loss was much more. “The pink bollworm has caused considerable loss to farmers in Bathinda and Mansa districts. It is being felt that the pest attack started due to spurious seeds, and spurious pesticides failed to contain the attack. The government must investigate the sale of spurious seeds and fertilisers as it had also happened in 2015, when farmers had to face a big loss due to whitefly attack on cotton crop due to spurious seeds and insecticides”, said BKU Ugrahan state secretary Shingara Singh Mann, who is leading the protest. He said the protest will continue till the government enhance the compensation amount, hinting that they may lower their demand from Rs 60,000 per acre if government was serious to negotiate.

The Times of India

2021-10-18

Chandigarh