deepak pace
DJ_DEE
Bathinda December 31:
Intensifying their protest against the alleged anti-farmer attitude of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and the lax attitude of the administration in sorting out the tussle over the purchase of cotton, members of six farmer unions today blocked the Bathinda railway junction.
Around 7,500 passengers were affected as five trains had to be cancelled at the Bathinda railway station while seven more were stranded en route. At around 1.45 pm, the farmers, who had been on a dharna outside the regional office of the CCI here, reached the railway junction and blocked the Ferozepur-Rewari passenger train, which had to be sent back.
The farmers alleged that officers of the CCI had been purchasing cotton crop at a rate less than the MSP. Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Ekta (Ugrahan), said the CCI officials were not purchasing cotton at the rate of Rs 2,800 per quintal, which was fixed as the MSP. The dharna will be lifted only when their demands were fulfilled, said Shingara Singh, a leader of the farmers.
According to the list given to the district magistrate by the railway authorities, two trains for Sriganganagar-Ambala, one for Bathinda-Suratgarh, Ferozepur-Rewari and Bathinda-Ambala had been cancelled and the fare was being refunded to the passengers. The Rewari-Fazilka train was stopped at Shergarh, Bikaner-Bathinda at Gurisar Sainewala, Bikaner-Abohar train at Hanumangarh, Ambala-Bathinda train at Rampura, Rewari-Bathinda train at Sirsa, Delhi-Sriganganagar at Jakhal and Jammu Tawi-Ahmedabad train at Ferozepur.
District Magistrate Rahul Tewari said: “The matter is between the CCI and the farmers. We can’t sort it out on our own. We have been doing our best to lift the blockade.” CCI’s manager V.P. Nagpal said: “The CCI is firm about the decision and we have been doing everything under the parameters. About the “unreasonable” demand of the farmers, we are helpless.”
Intensifying their protest against the alleged anti-farmer attitude of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and the lax attitude of the administration in sorting out the tussle over the purchase of cotton, members of six farmer unions today blocked the Bathinda railway junction.
Around 7,500 passengers were affected as five trains had to be cancelled at the Bathinda railway station while seven more were stranded en route. At around 1.45 pm, the farmers, who had been on a dharna outside the regional office of the CCI here, reached the railway junction and blocked the Ferozepur-Rewari passenger train, which had to be sent back.
The farmers alleged that officers of the CCI had been purchasing cotton crop at a rate less than the MSP. Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Ekta (Ugrahan), said the CCI officials were not purchasing cotton at the rate of Rs 2,800 per quintal, which was fixed as the MSP. The dharna will be lifted only when their demands were fulfilled, said Shingara Singh, a leader of the farmers.
According to the list given to the district magistrate by the railway authorities, two trains for Sriganganagar-Ambala, one for Bathinda-Suratgarh, Ferozepur-Rewari and Bathinda-Ambala had been cancelled and the fare was being refunded to the passengers. The Rewari-Fazilka train was stopped at Shergarh, Bikaner-Bathinda at Gurisar Sainewala, Bikaner-Abohar train at Hanumangarh, Ambala-Bathinda train at Rampura, Rewari-Bathinda train at Sirsa, Delhi-Sriganganagar at Jakhal and Jammu Tawi-Ahmedabad train at Ferozepur.
District Magistrate Rahul Tewari said: “The matter is between the CCI and the farmers. We can’t sort it out on our own. We have been doing our best to lift the blockade.” CCI’s manager V.P. Nagpal said: “The CCI is firm about the decision and we have been doing everything under the parameters. About the “unreasonable” demand of the farmers, we are helpless.”
