The call for bandh had been announced yesterday by the Doaba Kisan Sangharsh Committee over the issue of pending dues of sugarcane from the mills and no enhancement in the State Agreed Price (SAP) of sugarcane for the past four years. Though the state government announced to hike the SAP by Rs 15 per quintal today, it has further agitated the farmers.
“The government has played a cruel joke with us. By announcing a meagre Rs 15 per quintal hike, they have ridiculed us. The state government did not have any one of us for representation during finalising this amount. We were expecting the SAP on sugarcane to be hiked to Rs 370 from the existing price of Rs 295 to 310 (varying according to variety). Haryana is already offering Rs 358 per quintal,” fumed Manjit Rai, president, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba).
He added: “We will now have an intensified protest. We had plans to block only the road, but now we will also block the rail passage. Also, all 32 farmer unions of Punjab have offered us support. Our protest tomorrow at the site may have more than 30K farmers and it will go on indefinitely till all our demands are met to our satisfaction. We will also have our meeting at the site tomorrow morning and we may jam the entire state”.
The Doaba Kisan Sangharsh Committee chooses the site at Dhanowali strategically as the NH and the railway crossing here are very close by and both the dharnas can be managed simultaneously.
Visuals of the protest showed hundreds sitting on NH 1, waving farmer union flags and shouting slogans against the government. As many as 32 farmer unions have gathered for this protest.
Due to this, commuters from Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Pathankot and other adjoining areas, who were to shuttle across Jalandhar-Phagwara stretch of NH-1 in Dhanowali by road or rail, faced a huge bottleneck on Friday as the farmers blocked the passage indefinitely.
They also blocked the railway track near Dhanowali village, due to which the Shane Punjab Express (from Amritsar to Delhi) was stopped at the station in Jalandhar. At least seven other trains, including the SVDK Vande Bharat Express, have also been affected.
Though DCP (law and order) Jagmohan Singh stated that they will ensure that commuters will face least harassment and will guide the commuters on the alternate routes and ensure smooth flow of traffic, but, all went in vein.
Farmers said they want all three laws to be scrapped but the centre is only willing to make modifications, and insists the laws will prove beneficial in the long run.