Punjab farmers stopped trains in favour of their demands

PATIALA:  AS per call given for rail roko agitation seven Kisan unions Monday stopped trains in Patiala and all other distircts of Punjab  form 10 1m to 3. 00 pm. Reports reaching from Rajpura said that hundreds of farmers have gather on Rajpura junction and stopped trains.



The district president of Bhartiya kisan union (Pishora Group) Gurbax Singh Balbehra said that announcement of merely Rs. 50 per quintal bonus for paddy announced by the central Govt was not acceptable by the farmers The prices of inputs of agriculture particularly diesel, labour, seeds, pesticides etc have gone up manifold during the last couple of decades, he added.

Balbehra said that the Centre had fixed the MSP of paddy below the recommendations of Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP).  The Centre's apathy against farmers was evident from the fact when it fixed Rs.850 per quintal as MSP for paddy, which was even much below Rs.1050/- per quintal recommended by CACP.  

Balbehra also held responsible Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh badal for the woes of farmers in the state. He said that Panjab government has prevented its nodal agency Markfed for not procuring cotton from market.

Balbehra also demanded the adequate supply of DAP to farmers.

The trains were also stopped at Amritsar, Moga, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Mukatwar, Hoshiarpur, Kaspurthala, Nawanshehar, Sangrur, Barnala and Jalandhar.