Onion farmers block road to protest delay in procurement

Scores of onion farmers today blocked a key road here to protest slow pace of procurement of their produce at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) announced by the Madhya Pradesh government.
They obstructed traffic on the main road close to the Laxmibai Wholesale Market and ended their protest only after the market administration assured them that the procurement process will be fast-tracked, an official said.
"Hundreds of farmers blocked the main road close to the wholesale market, bringing the traffic to a virtual halt," Additional Superintendent of Police Rupesh Kumar Dwivedi said.
He said the farmers withdrew their protest only after assurances from the administration that the onion procurement process will be expedited.

At the protest site, the farmers said they have been waiting to sell their onion stocks, brought in vehicles at the wholesale market, since the last seven days as the procurement process is going on at a snail's pace.
They asked the wholesale market management to quicken the procurement of onion, whose MSP has been fixed at Rs 8 per kg.
Madhya Pradesh has harvested a bumper onion crop this season. In the midst of violent protests by farmers in the first fortnight of June, the state government had announced MSP for onion.