Vegetable prices soar, milk supply hit as farmers' protest for fourth day

Chandigarh: As their agitation entered the fourth day today, farmers in Punjab and Haryana continued to dump their produce on roads as a mark of their protest, while vegetable prices soared in several cities of the two states.

The 10-day agitation by farmers against the alleged anti-farmer policies of the central government began on Friday.

Several farmers' organisations are jointly protesting in 22 states, demanding remunerative prices for their produce, implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations and farm loan waiver.

They have stopped the supply of vegetables, fruits, milk and other items to cities.

Prices of vegetables and other items have soared in the wake of dwindling supplies of farm produce, traders said.

The farmers, instead of supplying their produce to madis, are dumping them on roads to make their displeasure clear.

At several places in Punjab and Haryana, including Ludhiana, Moga, Muktsar, Kurukshetra, Fatehabad and Sonipat, they held protests.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said protesting against the government "will not serve any purpose".

"We have always been listening to farmers and we have come up with so many schemes and programmes for the welfare of peasants.

Be it schemes related to crop compensation, crop insurance or shielding the farmers from price fluctuations or schemes related to irrigation, we have launched many initiatives for their welfare," Khattar told reporters.

He said farmers would never forgive "those who force them to throw their vegetables and spill the milk on the roads".

Bharatiya Kisan Andolan activists along with the farmers throw tomatoes on a road during a protest various issues of the farmers including their loan waiver in Meerut onSunday June 03 2018. | PTI

"Those who are misguiding farmers into doing so are their biggest enemies," he said, adding that vegetables, fruits and milk were produced after tremendous hard work by farmers.

Responding to a question, Khattar said "those who are stopping farmers from bringing their produce to markets and forcing them to throw them on roads, would be sternly dealt with".

However, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh criticised the Centre for allegedly being apathetic to the distress in the agriculture sector.

"When farmers, who feed the nation, are forced to take to streets to draw attention to their pitiable condition, then it does not augur well for the country," he said in a statement.

Sympathising with farmers, Singh wondered what else they should be expected to do when their survival was at stake.

"The farmers are suffering as a result of the central government's failure to waive their debts, which many state governments, including Punjab, had been repeatedly seeking, and also to give them the due price for their produce," he said, reiterating his demand for implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report.