Punjab: Farmers Call Off Protest After Bhagwant Mann Govt Accepts Their Demands

Mann told the farmer leaders that his government has already issued a notification to procure the entire moong (green gram) crop at a minimum support price of Rs 7,275 per quintal.

Punjab farmers (File Photo/ Getty Images)

New Delhi: The farmers of Punjab ended their protest at the Chandigarh-Mohali border on Wednesday after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government accepted several of their demands. This came after the representatives of farmer bodies held a marathon meeting with the Punjab Chief Minister in Chandigarh, PTI reported. Conceding the farmers’ demands, Mann announced a fresh schedule for staggered sowing of paddy on June 14 and June 17, thus restricting the total number of zones to just two instead of four.

Mann told the farmer leaders that his government has already issued a notification to procure the entire moong (green gram) crop at a minimum support price of Rs 7,275 per quintal.

Punjab Rural Development Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, according to the news agency, shared the details of the meeting with the agitating farmers at the protest site in Mohali.

Bharti Kisan Union (Sidhupur) state president Jagjit Singh Dallewal later announced the decision to lift the protest.

Earlier on Tuesday, scores of farmers began a protest near the Chandigarh-Mohali border after they were stopped from heading to the Punjab capital to press their various demands, including a bonus on wheat and beginning paddy sowing from June 10.

The government had asked the farmers not to go for paddy transplantation till June 18.

The Chief Minister had on Tuesday called the agitation by the farmers as unwarranted.

Mann said his doors are open for talks with the farmers but hollow slogans cannot break his resolve to check further depletion of groundwater.