Bawariya community protests against farmers’ union

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, June 4

Tension has started building up in some villages on the fourth day of the nationwide ‘Pind Bandh’ agitation of farmers’ union.

After some stray incidents of scuffles between milkmen and farmers’ union activists, now it is Bawariya community members, which raised their voice here.

In this part of Punjab, Bawariyas are mainly a community of small farmers who grow vegetables after taking land on lease.

They are suffering huge losses as activists of farmers’ union are not allowing them to sell their vegetables.

To register their protest on Monday, members of this community, including women, staged a protest dharna on the Kotkapura-Moga road at Panjgrain village.

They dumped huge stock of their vegetables on the road and alleged that non-interference of the state government had left them at the mercy of some ‘goons’ in the garb of farmer activists.

Putting up nakas on the road, these activists are not allowing them to sell their produce and are misbehaving with them and their women folks.

“Who will compensate us? Who will pay the lease money for the land” We are not allowed to sell our vegetables,” said Sarwan Singh, state president of the All-India Bawariya Community.

“While all cereal and grain crops can wait for sale after harvesting, the vegetable growers cannot hold their stock back as these are perishable items. We are a hardworking community and each member of our family, including children, rely solely on the manual labour to grow vegetables. If we don’t sell our vegetables, it is a huge, non-recoverable loss to us and we will not be able to pay the lease money,” said Jaspal Singh, general secretary of the community.

Instead of working as a daily wager, the Bawariya community members prefer to grow vegetables on the land taken on lease or they rear milch cattle.

“Our community is the biggest loser as the sale of milk and vegetables has been stopped, which are the only source of income for us,” said Jaspal Singh.

He demanded that the state government and farmers’ union must compensate them at Rs 50,000 per acre to pay the lease money to the land owners.

After rearing and plucking the vegetables, the Bawariya community members transport their vegetable stock to the nearest vegetable market in the wee hours.

To stop the flow of vegetables from fields to market, activists of farmers’ union put up nakas at various entry and exits of all towns before the dawn.

Vegetable growers, farmers’ dispute

Malout: Protesting farmers on Monday stopped vehicles ferrying vegetables and fruits from Malout to Gidderbaha on the outskirts of the town. It annoyed the vegetable sellers, who got support from other traders who also reached the spot within minutes. It led to some altercation between the farmers and vegetable sellers. Meanwhile, they blocked the road and sought action against the farmers. The road blockade continued for almost an hour. Later, they met the Malout DSP, who pacified them.