Bollworm: Farmers protest near Manpreet’s house at Badal village

Muktsar, October 5

A large number of farmers and farm labourers of five districts – Muktsar, Bathinda, Mansa, Fazilka, Faridkot – today started an indefinite protest near the residence of Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal at Badal village here, demanding immediate compensation of Rs 60,000 per acre for farmers and Rs 30,000 per family for farm labourers for the loss to the cotton crop due to pink bollworm attack.

Farmers said not just the pink bollworm, the untimely rain, too, has caused damage to their crop this time. “The state government should give us compensation and initate action against those who sold spurious seeds and pesticides,” said Gurbhagat Singh Bhallaiana, chief, BKU (Ugrahan), Muktsar. — TNS