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Farmers get ‘concessions’ through street strength
THE NEWSPAPER'S STAFF REPORTER — PUBLISHED about 3 hours ago
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FARMERS block Multan Road during a protest in support of their demands. — Online
LAHORE: Around 1,000 farmers led by the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) on Thursday blocked Multan Road just outside Lahore for more than nine hours to protest against power disconnection of their tubewells, registration of cases against them and the Punjab government’s pulling out of the wheat procurement drive.
By afternoon, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah arrived on the scene and struck a ‘deal’ with them, assuring them of re-connection for all tubewells, which paid their current bills, withdrawal of cases and re-induction of the Punjab Food Department to purchase more wheat, but only from farmers – not the middleman and traders.
An agreement was reached, written and signed by both sides, just like a similar deal on March 25 which was not implemented. The farmers, who had travelled from the central Punjab region, were armed with sticks and reapers. Riding tractors, motorbikes and buses, they started converging on the city since morning. Since police were alerted about their plan to enter the city and stage a sit-in in front of the Punjab Assembly, a team of Lahore police convinced them to move to a site near Shahpur Kanjran on the promise that representatives of the Punjab government would arrive soon.
The law minister did arrive on the scene and was able to reach a three-point agreement after which the crowd dispersed. He clarified that though connections of tubewells would be restored, the farmers aided by the Federal Ministry of Water and Power would have to sit with their respective distribution companies and sort out arrears issues as these are not being written off.
Minister quells unrest by negotiating dues payment
And only those cases, which were registered against farmers during protests for their rights, would be withdrawn. He further said the Punjab Food Department had slowed down wheat procurement on the assumption that small farmers, lacking holding and storage capacity, had already sold the commodity, leaving middlemen and traders in field and the official procurement was only benefitting these traders and middlemen.
“Now the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad has taken it upon itself to prove that small farmers still have wheat and they want to sell it to the department for better returns. The Punjab government will only further procure wheat if the PKI proves that small farmers are still left with wheat, otherwise the government is not ready to facilitate middlemen and traders,” he insisted.
Chaudhry Anwar, who signed and exchanged a written deal with the provincial law minister, told the farmers that all cases against them would be withdrawn and no tubewell would be disconnected if it had paid the current bill and that the government had promised to continue purchasing wheat from farmers.
@Horus, @rockstar08, @WAJsal, @Junaid B, @Pomegranate, @Color_Less_Sky, @Zarvan, @xyxmt, @SipahSalar, @Bratva, @Stealth, @Rashid Mahmood,
@syedali73, @Leader, @DESERT FIGHTER, @Jazzbot, @Spring Onion, @chauvunist,
@Pakistan Shaheen, @karakoram, @syedali73, @rockstar08, @haviZsultan, @Gufi @Muhammad Omar, @graphican, @Gazi, @Donatello, @Hyperion, @Pak_Sher, @Sage,
@Shamain @Azad-Kashmiri
THE NEWSPAPER'S STAFF REPORTER — PUBLISHED about 3 hours ago
0 COMMENTS
PRINT
FARMERS block Multan Road during a protest in support of their demands. — Online
LAHORE: Around 1,000 farmers led by the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) on Thursday blocked Multan Road just outside Lahore for more than nine hours to protest against power disconnection of their tubewells, registration of cases against them and the Punjab government’s pulling out of the wheat procurement drive.
By afternoon, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah arrived on the scene and struck a ‘deal’ with them, assuring them of re-connection for all tubewells, which paid their current bills, withdrawal of cases and re-induction of the Punjab Food Department to purchase more wheat, but only from farmers – not the middleman and traders.
An agreement was reached, written and signed by both sides, just like a similar deal on March 25 which was not implemented. The farmers, who had travelled from the central Punjab region, were armed with sticks and reapers. Riding tractors, motorbikes and buses, they started converging on the city since morning. Since police were alerted about their plan to enter the city and stage a sit-in in front of the Punjab Assembly, a team of Lahore police convinced them to move to a site near Shahpur Kanjran on the promise that representatives of the Punjab government would arrive soon.
The law minister did arrive on the scene and was able to reach a three-point agreement after which the crowd dispersed. He clarified that though connections of tubewells would be restored, the farmers aided by the Federal Ministry of Water and Power would have to sit with their respective distribution companies and sort out arrears issues as these are not being written off.
Minister quells unrest by negotiating dues payment
And only those cases, which were registered against farmers during protests for their rights, would be withdrawn. He further said the Punjab Food Department had slowed down wheat procurement on the assumption that small farmers, lacking holding and storage capacity, had already sold the commodity, leaving middlemen and traders in field and the official procurement was only benefitting these traders and middlemen.
“Now the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad has taken it upon itself to prove that small farmers still have wheat and they want to sell it to the department for better returns. The Punjab government will only further procure wheat if the PKI proves that small farmers are still left with wheat, otherwise the government is not ready to facilitate middlemen and traders,” he insisted.
Chaudhry Anwar, who signed and exchanged a written deal with the provincial law minister, told the farmers that all cases against them would be withdrawn and no tubewell would be disconnected if it had paid the current bill and that the government had promised to continue purchasing wheat from farmers.
@Horus, @rockstar08, @WAJsal, @Junaid B, @Pomegranate, @Color_Less_Sky, @Zarvan, @xyxmt, @SipahSalar, @Bratva, @Stealth, @Rashid Mahmood,
@syedali73, @Leader, @DESERT FIGHTER, @Jazzbot, @Spring Onion, @chauvunist,
@Pakistan Shaheen, @karakoram, @syedali73, @rockstar08, @haviZsultan, @Gufi @Muhammad Omar, @graphican, @Gazi, @Donatello, @Hyperion, @Pak_Sher, @Sage,
@Shamain @Azad-Kashmiri
