The rice has been lying in mandis for a month now, allege farmers
A group of farmers has blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh highway near Haryana's Kurukshetra protesting against the slow procurement of paddy crops. They insist that they will continue to block the highway as long as their produce is not bought by the government, adding if demands are not met by today, they will take the protest to the homes of MPs and MLAs.
The farmers also allege that the government has been postponing the procurement day and their produce is lying in the open for close to a month now. The rain over the last two days has also spoiled the crop and added to the problem.
"The rice has been lying in mandis for a month now. We have lost 20 per cent of our produce. Who will compensate us for that. Despite the Chief Minister's instruction, not one grain has been bought. They give us false promises," said Pawan Sirsla, a farmer.
Huge rows of stationary traffic, with vehicles closely tailing each other, were seen on the highway. A group of farmers atop vehicles and on the road carrying flags were also seen.
"The government said that it will buy the produce on 25th, then they said they will buy it on the 1st and the again pushed it to 11th. It rained last night spoiling the produce. The government is responsible for this. We want that they buy it soonest.
"We will stay put till they buy the produce. If our demands are not met today, then we will gherao the MP, MLAs homes with our produce and and will not get up till the sale of our crop begins," said Amreek Singh, Kisan Mahamantri, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).
Yesterday, the farmers blocked Delhi-Amritsar national highway following the detention of BKU chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni.
Mr Chaduni was later released.