Farmers block rail tracks, national highway over sugarcane prices in Punjab

Several trains were cancelled while vehicular traffic was disrupted after farmers blocked rail tracks and a national highway near Jalandhar on Friday.

On the call of the BKU (Doaba), farmers on Friday went on protest for an indefinite period to press the state government to accept their demands related to pending dues of sugarcane and hike in cane prices.

Protesters blocked the Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway near Dhanowali railway crossing besides the Ludhiana-Amritsar and Ludhiana-Jammu rail tracks in Jalandhar.

At least nine trains were cancelled while 13 were either short terminated or diverted, according to railway officials.

Farmers blocked the national highway around 9 am by parking tractors and other vehicles in the middle of the road. They have also put up tents on the busy highway.

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The road block severely affected the road traffic on the highway, though the administration diverted traffic through some other routes.

Commuters, especially those coming from Amritsar, Ludhiana and Pathankot, were harassed a lot.

Farmers said they blocked the rail tracks at 4 pm.

Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) general secretary Satnam Singh Sahni said they resorted to agitation for an indefinite period because of the government's apathetic attitude towards their demands.

Sahni said they have been demanding that the cane rate in Punjab should be hiked.

“We have not been getting remunerative rates for sugarcane for the past several years,” lamented Sahni.

He said a Rs 15 per quintal hike announced by the Punjab government was grossly inadequate.

The SAP of sugarcane went up from Rs 310 to Rs 325 for early variety, Rs 300 to Rs 315 for mid variety and Rs 295 to Rs 310 per quintal for late maturing variety.

Sahni said Haryana was giving more than Rs 350 per quintal.

He further said the government should also clear cane arrear of Rs 250 crore which was pending towards sugarmills.

The district administration officials met the farmer leaders to lift their blockade but the protesters refused to do so.