The Crossbill News Desk
Protesting the delayed procurement of paddy, farmers blocked a section of the Amritsar-Ludhiana national highway in Phagwara and the Dhanowali railway crossing on the outskirts of Jalandhar on Monday, causing significant inconvenience to commuters.
The protest at Dhanowali was lifted around 6 PM, while in Phagwara, the farmers, under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba), vowed to keep the highway blocked indefinitely.
To manage the situation, police diverted traffic headed towards Jalandhar and Ludhiana to alternate routes, such as the Mehli-Banga-Khothran road to Goraya and the Phillaur-Nurmahal route for those coming from Ludhiana. Meanwhile, an army convoy remained stationed in Jalandhar for several hours due to the blockade, Hindustan Times reported.
Manjit Singh Rai, the district president of BKU (Doaba), expressed frustration over the non-procurement and non-lifting of paddy from the mandis.
“We have brought a large number of trolleys laden with unsold paddy to prove our point. We will continue the blockade till purchase of paddy begins in the mandis,” Rai told the newspaper.
Apologizing for the inconvenience caused, particularly during the festive season, farmer leader Satnam Singh Sahni emphasized that both the Central and state governments had forced them to take this action. He added that ambulances and vehicles carrying schoolchildren were being allowed to pass through the blockade.
Senior officials, including Kapurthala's Senior Superintendent of Police, Vatsala Gupta, are on-site to monitor the situation closely.
One of the main issues behind the slow procurement is related to the short-duration PR126 paddy variety, promoted as a solution to Punjab's depleting water table.
However, rice millers have been hesitant to accept it due to concerns over its out-turn ratio. Of the approximately 5,500 rice millers in Punjab, only about 10% have agreed to process the PR126 variety, while the rest fear potential losses when delivering the product to the Food Corporation of India (FCI). They claim the mixing of hybrid varieties has lowered the out-turn ratio to around 62%, compared to the required 67%.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, in a statement on Saturday, said that the state would not yield to "blackmailing tactics" aimed at disrupting paddy procurement. He also indicated that the state was prepared to get the rice milled outside of Punjab if necessary.
The protest at Dhanowali was lifted around 6 PM, while in Phagwara, the farmers, under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba), vowed to keep the highway blocked indefinitely.
To manage the situation, police diverted traffic headed towards Jalandhar and Ludhiana to alternate routes, such as the Mehli-Banga-Khothran road to Goraya and the Phillaur-Nurmahal route for those coming from Ludhiana. Meanwhile, an army convoy remained stationed in Jalandhar for several hours due to the blockade, Hindustan Times reported.
Manjit Singh Rai, the district president of BKU (Doaba), expressed frustration over the non-procurement and non-lifting of paddy from the mandis.
“We have brought a large number of trolleys laden with unsold paddy to prove our point. We will continue the blockade till purchase of paddy begins in the mandis,” Rai told the newspaper.
Apologizing for the inconvenience caused, particularly during the festive season, farmer leader Satnam Singh Sahni emphasized that both the Central and state governments had forced them to take this action. He added that ambulances and vehicles carrying schoolchildren were being allowed to pass through the blockade.
Senior officials, including Kapurthala's Senior Superintendent of Police, Vatsala Gupta, are on-site to monitor the situation closely.
One of the main issues behind the slow procurement is related to the short-duration PR126 paddy variety, promoted as a solution to Punjab's depleting water table.
However, rice millers have been hesitant to accept it due to concerns over its out-turn ratio. Of the approximately 5,500 rice millers in Punjab, only about 10% have agreed to process the PR126 variety, while the rest fear potential losses when delivering the product to the Food Corporation of India (FCI). They claim the mixing of hybrid varieties has lowered the out-turn ratio to around 62%, compared to the required 67%.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, in a statement on Saturday, said that the state would not yield to "blackmailing tactics" aimed at disrupting paddy procurement. He also indicated that the state was prepared to get the rice milled outside of Punjab if necessary.
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