Agitating farmers of Punjab suspend stir

The agitating farmers of Punjab suspended their stir from today after paying tributes to those killed in police firing in Mandsaur last year and said they will start supplying vegetables and milk to cities and urban areas.

The decision to suspend the stir from today was taken in a meeting of leaders of different farmers' organisations in Ludhiana on June 4.

Farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said the stir will continue in other parts of the country till June 10 as per the original schedule and the future course of action will be decided depending upon the government's response.

We thank farmers of Punjab for holding a peaceful stir, he said.

Rajewal said the decision was to suspend the stir and not call it off.

"We will rest only after our demands including implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations, complete loan waiver, adequate price for our produce, are met," he said.

In the current scenario, the middlemen were earning profit at the cost of farmers and the consumers, he said.

We want farmers to get adequate price for their produce even as we want consumers to benefit, he said.

As part of the nation-wide stir that began from June 1, farmers stopped supply of vegetables, fruits, milk and other items to cities against alleged anti-farmer policies of the Centre.

The peasants held protests at many places in Punjab and Haryana. Some even dumped their produce, including milk, on roads.

The trend of vegetable prices rising continued for a few days in the wake of short supplies owing to the farmers' stir, but prices will ease now, traders said.

During the stir earlier, at a few places in Punjab, arguments had broken out between traders and some farmer leaders as the former claimed that they were being stopped from selling the stock of fruits and vegetables which they already had.

The decision to stop supplies starting from June 1 till June 10 was taken by farmers under the banner of Kisan Ekta Manch and Rashtriya Kisan Maha Sangh.