Protest over sugarcane price: After NH, farmers block tracks; Mann sends emissary with Rs 8 per quintal hike offer
As the highway blockade in Punjab’s Jalandhar by the farmers who are demanding an increase in sugarcane prices entered its third day on Thursday with some protesters also blocking a section of the railway track affecting the train movement, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann assigned a IG (Intelligence) Jaskaran Singh to negotiate with farm unions and offer them a raise of Rs 8 per quintal. The farmers are demanding an increase in the State Advised Price (SAP) of sugarcane from Rs 380 per quintal to Rs 450 per quintal.
Farmers led by Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) are staging a ‘dharna’ on the Amritsar-Delhi National Highway which has affected traffic between Jalandhar and Delhi. On Thursday, they also blocked a section of the Delhi-Amritsar railway track near Dhanowali village in Jalandhar, leading to cancellation, short termination and diversions of several trains.
Mann, who had earlier advised the farmers to call off protests, held a meeting with finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday. Sources privy to the meeting said that it was discussed that the government was not in a position to pay Rs 450 per quintal to the farmers. “It was discussed that no state is paying such high price for sugarcane. Even Haryana had increased the SAP to Rs 386 per quintal from Rs 372. The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has also recommended an increase of Rs 8 per quintal,” a source said.
The source added, “The CM is not pleased with the way the farmer unions are behaving. They are causing inconvenience to the public. IG Singh has been specifically asked to offer to the farmers an increase of Rs 8 per quintal only. If they do not agree, the government will not even announce this much”.
He added that the CM was upset that trains including Shtabdi Express was stopped and people were inconvenienced, “We are in touch with many farmers, who want their sugarcane to be crushed. It is the unions, which are creating problem. This was discussed at length. The CM is taking a calculated stand by siding with the public and not farmer unions,” added the source.
Farmer leader Balwinder Singh had earlier said that they were forced to come out on roads by the state government which has still not announced the sugarcane prices, nor has started the cane crushing. They said that the government had promised to resolve their issues on November 16 in a meeting but cancelled it a day before.
Farmers under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha blocked the Jalandhar-Phagwara section of the Jalandhar-New Delhi National Highway near Dhanowali village for an “indefinite period” on Tuesday. The protest in Jalandhar has affected the movement of vehicles from Jammu, Pathankot, and Amritsar via Jalandhar towards Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Nawanshahr, and Delhi.
With police diverting traffic towards alternative roads, the commuters had a harrowing time crossing the part of the district. As per details, at least six trains each were cancelled and diverted, while eight had to be short terminated on the main route due to the protests.
Apart from this, several local passenger trains on various routes in the Doaba regions too had to either be short terminated or diverted. An official from the rialway said that they had initiated refunds for all tickets of passengers who couldn’t travel and so far around Rs 5 lakh had been disbursed.
Meanwhile, a meeting between the government and the farmer union was underway at the time of filing this to break the deadlock, in which special DGP Arpit Shukla was also present. Manjit Singh Rai, the president of Bhartiya Kisan Union, told The Indian Express that if the meeting is successful, then they will lift the dharna.
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