Farmers staged a protest on the railway track at Batala railway station for three hours on Sunday against the “forcible acquisition of their land” and in support of their demand for an increase in the minimum support price of sugarcane. According to the farmers, train chakka jam was conducted in close to 12 districts in Punjab against the central and the state government.
In a press note, the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) stated that the farmers are protesting against the construction of the Delhi-Katra expressway and the Batala highway. The farmers of Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur are protesting for their sugarcane price and their land.
A KMSC representative while speaking to ANI said, “We have a few demands with the central and the state government. One, the state government must pay us for our sugarcane. We have not been given anything till now and it has been more than 50 days.” “The state government had announced fixed a rate of Rs 380 per quintal which has not been allocated to us till now,” said the KMSC representative.
The farmers in Batala railway station alleged that some of their lands are being forcefully acquired for the construction of a highway under the Bharatmala Yojana and they have not been compensated. Adding on to their demands, the farmers said, “We demand the cancellation of bail order by Supreme Court of the accused in Lakhimpur Kheri incident, Ashish Mishra Teni. We demand the arrest of Minister of State for Home Ajay Singh Teni who also represent the Kheri constituency”
“The central government should do something about the Minimum Support Price (MSP). A law has not been made till now, but only a letter was given to us by the government,” added the farmers.
