Punjab sugarcane farmers ready for long haul, toilets raised

Jalandhar, August 21

Protesting farmers of the Doaba and Majha cane belts are in no mood to relent. Spearheading a morcha here similar to the one at Singhu, they are angry over being “let down” by the government that prodded them to diversify and take to cane cultivation. They have announced they will continue the protest till their demand for a higher SAP for cane is met.

Batala, Gurdaspur, Dinanagar, Pathankot, Bhoa, Hoshiarpur, Bhogpur and Dasuya comprise Punjab’s cane belt. A determined Baljit Singh of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, who hails from Gurdaspur, said: “The Singhu morcha is for the country, this morcha is for Punjab.”

“For four years we haven’t seen a decent hike in SAP,” he said. The protest for the second day in a row has affected rail and road traffic. Hundreds of trucks are stranded on the Jalandhar-Phagwara highway.

Traffic from the Maqsudan bypass flyover to the PAP Chowk, connecting Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana, is the worst-hit. The Roadways and PRTC buses are using link roads. The dharna on the rail tracks at Dhanowali has forced the Railways to cancel or re-route 126 trains. — TNS