Punjab farmers ended their protest on Wednesday after the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government accepted several of their demands. The development came after representatives of farmer bodies held a marathon meeting with the Chief Minister here.
Punjab farmers, who were sitting on a dharna at the Mohali-Chandigarh border to press for their demands, Wednesday ended their stir after the Punjab government accepted 12 of the 13 demands.While a formal announcement of the acceptance of the demands was made by Punjab rural development and panchayats minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, the precursor to it was a meeting between leaders of protesting farmers’ organisations and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Among the 13 demands, the two sides could not reach a consensus on the demand for a bonus of Rs 500 on every quintal of wheat on account of a drop in the yield due to shrivelling of grains.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister divided the state into two zones for sowing of paddy instead of four. Now, half of the state would be able to sow paddy from June 14 and the second zone would be able to do so from June 17. The farmers have been asked to divide the districts too into these two zones. Earlier, the government had ordered that the sowing would start from June 18 in a staggered manner in the four zones.
Mann also assured the farmers that they would be getting MSP on moong and showed them a notification on this. Dhaliwal said farmers will be given Rs 7,275 per quintal for moong.
While making the announcement, Dhaliwal said, “Mann sahib told the farmer leaders that this is a common man’s government. From now on, they would not need to sit on a dharna. Each demand will be met. We had a three-hour long meeting. It was not a meeting between farmers and the government but between the brethren.”
The farmers had demanded a notification for the minimum support price for maize and moong and fixing of an MSP of Rs 4,500 per quintal for Basmati.
