Farmers start MSP stir on Chandigarh border

Mohali/Panchkula, November 26

Hundreds of farmers under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Sunday launched a three-day protest on the Mohali-Chandigarh border to press the Centre for their pending demands of MSP guarantee and debt waiver, among others.

Heavy security arrangements were made ahead of the protest. Farmers from several parts of Punjab, including Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Sangrur, started arriving in Mohali early this morning on tractor-trailers, SUVs and other vehicles with a cargo of essential items, including ration, bedding, utensils and cooking gas cylinders, for the three-day protest. Farmers from Haryana also arrived at Sector 5 in Panchkula for a three-day sit-in. The SKM is demanding a guarantee for MSP, withdrawal of cases registered against farmers during the yearlong agitation against the now-repealed farm laws, waiver of debt, pension for farmers, withdrawal of FIRs registered for burning stubble and compensation for crop loss due to floods. Leaders lambasted the Centre for “not keeping” the promises. They said they would intensify the protest in case the government failed to accept their demands.

The protesters announced that on the last day of their dharna, they would march to the Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh to submit a memorandum of their demands to the Punjab Governor.