Blockade continues outside Phagwara sugar mill rephrase this

(The Uttam Hindu): An indefinite dharna initiated by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba) on Monday, addressing the slow procurement of paddy, continued for a second consecutive day outside the Phagwara sugar mill on Tuesday.

Commuters faced significant disruptions as several rounds of meetings involving Deputy Commissioner of Kapurthala Amit Kumar Panchal and Senior Superintendent of Police Vatasala Gupta with farmer activists resulted in only limited relief. While traffic moving from Jalandhar to Ludhiana flowed steadily, vehicles coming from the opposite direction remained stuck due to a turn toward Nakodar.

To address the situation, both the Deputy Commissioner and the Senior Superintendent of Police visited grain markets to meet with commission agents. Panchal reassured farm leaders that efforts were underway to initiate the procurement and lifting of paddy in the grain markets of Kapurthala district, including Phagwara.

BKU (Doaba) president Manjit Singh Rai and General Secretary Satnam Singh Sahni expressed that their protest stemmed from the slow lifting and purchasing of produce below the minimum support price (MSP) by private traders at various grain markets across the state.