Farmers under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Tikait) blocked the Panchkula-Dehradun highway (NH-344) at Aurangabad village in Yamunanagar on Sunday, criticising the state government over multiple issues faced during the ongoing paddy procurement.
Led by farmer leaders Bahadur Mehla Baldi and Jagdeep Aulakh, the agitated farmers locked the Market Committee office. The blockade was lifted after more than an hour, following the arrival of Jagadhri SDM Vishwanath, who sat among the farmers for nearly 30 minutes. Baldi said that the state government had promised to begin paddy procurement on September 29 but heaps of paddy were still lying unsold in the market. In Karnal, Haryana Congress affairs in-charge Sanjay Dutt and Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Rao Narender Singh visited the new grain market on NH-44 to take stock of the paddy procurement arrangements. He said that till Saturday, 36,703 metric tons of paddy had arrived in mandis of the district, out of which only 2,867 had been purchased by various agencies.
Tikait said they were assured that the farmers will meet Yamunanagar deputy commissioner (DC), who will arrange a meeting with the state government. The SDM said that farmers were assured that all their local issues will be resolved at the earliest, while others will be forwarded to the state government. In a statement, Karnal DC Anand Kumar Sharma said that all preparations have been completed by the administration in view of paddy procurement. Kurukshetra DC Vishram Kumar Meena said that as per the instructions of chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, every grain of farmers’ crop will be procured.
After the meeting, Tikait along with the state unit led by Ratan Mann demanded that a senior official from the district administration must arrive at the venue to receive their memorandum. However, when no official arrived, the farmer leader drove a tractor to a nearby intersection along with his supporters to block NH-344 and obstructed traffic movement.
