Punjab farmers end protest after CM Mann's assurance on agriculture policy

Farmers protesting against the alleged delay in implementation of Punjab’s new agriculture policy ended their strike on Friday, a day after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann assured them that a draft of the policy would be shared with them by September 30.

Mann also assured them that their suggestions would be incorporated before the policy’s implementation.

Mann on Thursday held an over two-hour meeting with leaders of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) and Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, which led the protesting farmers, to discuss their demands.

Farmers under the banner of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) and the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union began a five-day protest on Sunday to press for their demands, including the agriculture policy’s implementation.

Speaking to reporters at the protest site, Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said they had urged the state government to make the agriculture policy public.

“They (the government) said it was being finalised… They said by September 30, they would finalise it and hand over a copy,” he said.

“We will wait till September 30. After we get a copy of the policy, we will go through it and hold a big meeting and decide the next course of action,” he added.

In the interim, “we have decided to end the protest in Chandigarh at 2 pm”, Ugrahan said.

On Thursday, when asked about the farmers’ future course of action following the meeting with Mann, the farmer leader said they would take a call after a meeting.

Mann assured the farmers that the state government was committed to safeguarding their interests and that the new agriculture policy would be a step forward in this direction.

The draft of the policy is ready but it will be finalised only after due deliberations with the farmers, the chief minister had said.

The draft will be shared with the farmers by September 30 and their suggestions sought, he had added.

The farmers’ suggestions will be incorporated in the policy as the state government does not want to impose anything on the growers, Mann had said and added that his dispensation was committed to consulting them for making agriculture a profitable venture.

Ugrahan said after the meeting that they were informed a 1,600-page draft of the policy would be shared with them by September 30.

The farmers’ other demands included the promotion of chemical-free crops, compensation to the families of farmers who committed suicide, and curbing the drugs problem in the state, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union general secretary Lachhman Singh Sewewala had earlier said.