Farmers booked for blocking national highway

Several sugarcane farmers were booked for allegedly blocking national highway here, police said Thursday.

Sadar Police registered a case against nine farmers and several other unidentified persons, they said.

The case was filed under Section 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant) and Section 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the National Highway Act, said Phagwara SP Mandeep Singh Dhillon.

Cane growers, who were demanding start of cane crushing and payment of arrears, had blocked Delhi-Jalandhar national highway on Tuesday, disrupting traffic movement and causing inconvenience to commuters.

They had blocked highway for over 24 hours as part of their protest.

On Wednesday evening, farmers called off their protest after the Punjab government agreed to pay Rs 25 per quintal out of Rs 310 per quintal to sugarcane growers.

It has also decided to release Rs 65 crore towards the interest on loans taken by private sugar mill owners to clear pending dues of farmers.

Manjit Singh Rai of Purheera village (Hoshiarpur) and Satnam Singh Sahni of Sahni village (Rawalpindi), both president and general secretary of the Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba), were among the farmers booked by police.