Punjab farmers hold protest march, seek implementation of agriculture policy

Chandigarh, Sep 2 (PTI) About a thousand farmers marched from Sector 34 to Matka Chowk in Chandigarh to press for their demands, including the implementation of an agriculture policy by the Punjab government.

Farmers under the banner of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) and the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union on Sunday began a five-day protest to press for their demands.

Farmer leaders said the Chandigarh authorities permitted a group of about a thousand farmers, including a number of women, to take out a march till Matka Chowk.

Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan led the march in which farmer leader Rakesh Tikait also took part.

Matka Chowk is a busy roundabout in the heart of the city. Sector 34 is also an educational and commercial hub. In view of the protest, many private coaching institutes suspended classes on Monday.

The protesters said they would be handing over a memorandum of their demands to ruling AAP and opposition leaders at the end of their march.

The farmer leaders had earlier said they wanted to march to the assembly, which is sitting for a three-day session from Monday, but the authorities allowed them to march only till Matka Chowk.

Farmers from various parts of Punjab arrived in buses, tractor-trolleys and their personal vehicles and converged on the Dussehra ground in Chandigarh's Sector 34 on Sunday to take part in the sit-in.

The administration allotted the ground for the protest.

The farmers are protesting against alleged delays in the implementation of an agriculture policy, claiming that the Punjab government had not taken any meaningful step on it.

The AAP government assumed power two-and-a-half-years ago but the promised agriculture policy is yet to be implemented, they alleged.

The farmers' other demands include the promotion of chemical-free crops, compensation to the families of farmers who committed suicide, and curbing the drugs problem in the state, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union general secretary Lachhman Singh Sewewala earlier said. PTI SUN SZM