Representatives of farmer unions at a meeting in Ludhiana on Monday. (Photo: Gurmeet Singh)
AFTER FACING protests from dairy farmers, vegetable growers and vendors, farmer unions in Punjab on Monday announced that they would cut short their ‘Gaon Bandh’ protest and call it off on June 6. The strike was supposed to continue till June 10.
The announcement was made by farmer union leaders along with Punjab Dairy farmers association (PDFA) officials. They said the “mode of protest” was causing differences among farmers and was even leading to instances of violence. They said it was also causing losses to farmers.
Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of Bharti Kisan Union (Rajewal), said, “We don’t want any incidents of violence and moreover, it (the stir) is causing loss to dairy farmers and vegetable growers. We want everything to be done in a peaceful manner, our fight is with the Centre and not with farmers. So, we have decided to continue the protest only till June 6. On Wednesday, we will remember the farmers who were killed in Madhya Pradesh during protests last year and then end the strike. The decision has been taken in consultation with PDFA and other farmer unions.”
Harmeet Singh Kadian and Harinder Singh, from Bharti Kisan Union (Kadian) and BKU (Lakhowal) respectively, said, “We have observed that unscrupulous elements entered the protest who had started harassing farmers by destroying their milk and vegetables. At a few places, they even took away the produce. We don’t want any losses to the farmers… rather we want them to get proper prices. We will identify the persons who have tried to defame us.”
Daljeet Singh, president of PDFA, said, “Our commercial dairy farmers were facing huge losses as they cannot hoard milk for ten days. Also, we cannot allow anyone to waste our milk on the roads. The decision taken by the unions is a huge relief for us,”
Vegetable growers stage agitation
Vegetable growers gathered in Faridkot and blocked Moga-Kotkapura Road for nearly three hours on Monday. They also dumped vegetables as a mark of protest against farmer unions.
Sarban Singh, president of Punjab Bavria Samaj, said, “Members of Bavria Samaj only do vegetable farming and they are small, marginal farmers. We are not with this bandh call, so who are these protesters? The actual dairy farmers, vegetable growers are not part of dharna…” Singh said.
Nanak Singh, another vegetable grower, said, “We have given memorandum to the Faridkot DC against the ‘self-styled’ leaders of farmer unions. Some of the ‘protesters’ on roads are not even vegetable growers or dairy farmers.We want compensation for our losses and action against these goons.”
In Gidderbaha, there was a clash between farmers and vegetable vendors. Similar clashes were also reported in Muktsar and Rampura Phull area of Bathinda.