BKU Sidhupur submits memo to DC over pending demands

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 22

A delegation of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Sidhupur on Friday submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner over the long-pending demands of farmers. The delegation was headed by BKU Sidhupur district president Baldev Singh Sandoha and district secretary Resham Singh Yatri.

In the memorandum, they demanded that cases, red entries marked in revenue records and challans registered against farmers should be cancelled at the earliest. Moreover, the state government should give Rs 200 per quintal compensation to all farmers.

They alleged that the government was charging rent on the machinery to lift paddy stubble, which marginal farmers cannot pay, leaving no option for farmers but to burn stubble.

They said as per the NGT ruling, if farmers were not given government help, they would intensify their protest in the coming days.

They said as farmers did not have any arrangement, they were forced to burn the stubble. But the government had failed to make any arrangement for stubble lifting for marginal farmers.

They said, “From November 1, the wheat sowing process starts whereas paddy harvesting starts from October 10, so farmers get very less time in managing the stubble.” They also lashed out at the government that this time the yield of paddy per acre had decreased and cases been registered against them.

They demanded that two-three stubble machines should be given to each village to manage paddy stubble in the state, so that in the coming season they did not face any problem.