Farmers, who protesting against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab on the Chandigarh-Mohali border, ended their agitation on Wednesday after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accepted several of their demands. This came after a delegation of farmers – under the banner of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) – held a marathon meeting with Mann that lasted for more than two-and-a-half hours.
There was a consensus on 12 out of 13 demands of farmers.
The state government, accepting the farmers’ demands, allowed paddy sowing in a staggered manner from June 14. It said that a notification to procure the entire moong (green gram) crop at a minimum support price of Rs 7,275 per quintal has also been issued.
“Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will talk to Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the Bhakra Beas Management Board issue. MSP will be given on Maize and Chief Minister has promised that Basmati will be purchased at a good price,” Punjab Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
“Chief Minister has said to farmers’ leaders that now they don’t have to sit on a protest. Give us some time and we will solve everything,” Dhaliwal said.
Following Dhaliwal’s announcement, Bharti Kisan Union (Sidhupur) state president Jagjit Singh Dallewal said the farmers have decided to end their agitation on the Chandigarh-Mohali border.
Hundreds of farmers had started their agitation on the Chandigarh-Mohali border on Tuesday after the Punjab Police stopped them from entering the state capital. Later, the farmers had vowed to launch a Delhi-like protest and said their agitation will continue till their demands are met.
Later, Mann had agreed to meet the farmers, but urged them to show faith in his government and stop “murdabad” sloganeering.
“It’s their right to protest… ‘murdabad-murdabad’ doesn’t seem nice… I’ll make everything right, but that doesn’t mean that after 2 months, you start thinking ‘murdabad’ slogans haven’t been raised, let’s go to Chandigarh,” Mann said on Tuesday night.
