The call for bandhhad been announced yesterday by the Doaba Kisan Sangharsh Committee over theissue of pending dues of sugarcane from the mills and no enhancement in theState Agreed Price (SAP) of sugarcane for the past four years. Though the stategovernment announced to hike the SAP by Rs 15 per quintal today, it has furtheragitated the farmers.
“The government hasplayed 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 forrepresentation during finalising this amount. We were expecting the SAP onsugarcane 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 perquintal,” fumed Manjit Rai, president, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba).
He added: “We willnow have an intensified protest. We had plans to block only the road, but nowwe will also block the rail passage. Also, all 32 farmer unions of Punjab haveoffered us support. Our protest tomorrow at the site may have more than 30Kfarmers and it will go on indefinitely till all our demands are met to oursatisfaction. We will also have our meeting at the site tomorrow morning and wemay jam the entire state”.
The Doaba KisanSangharsh Committee chooses the site at Dhanowali strategically as the NH andthe railway crossing here are very close by and both the dharnas can be managedsimultaneously.
Visuals of theprotest showed hundreds sitting on NH 1, waving farmer union flags and shoutingslogans against the government. As many as 32 farmer unions have gathered forthis protest.
Due to this, commutersfrom Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Pathankot and other adjoining areas, whowere to shuttle across Jalandhar-Phagwara stretch of NH-1 in Dhanowali by roador rail, faced a huge bottleneck on Friday as the farmers blocked the passageindefinitely.
They also blocked therailway track near Dhanowali village, due to which the Shane Punjab Express(from Amritsar to Delhi) was stopped at the station in Jalandhar. At leastseven other trains, including the SVDK Vande Bharat Express, have alsobeen affected.
Though DCP (law andorder) Jagmohan Singh stated that they will ensure that commuters will faceleast harassment and will guide the commuters on the alternate routes andensure smooth flow of traffic, but, all went in vein.
Farmers said theywant all three laws to be scrapped but the centre is only willing to makemodifications, and insists the laws will prove beneficial in the long run.