After farmers’ demands met, a 21-hour Haryana highway blockade ends

Although October 1 will continue to be the official purchase date, the state administration has announced that it will begin shifting paddy from grain markets.

Farmers in Haryana withdrew their roadblock of a major national highway after the state government gave in to their demands for early paddy procurement. The demonstration had severely impeded traffic on National Highway 44 in the area of Kurukshetra.

Although official purchase documentation would be processed on October 1 as previously indicated, the state has suddenly declared that it will begin moving all paddy stockpiled in grain markets, according to Gurnam Singh Charuni, whose organisation Bharatiya Kisan Union-Charuni was leading the demonstrations. Where they will store it is now their headache, he continued.

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The district government should have taken action right away to avert the situation, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled in a hearing that went into the wee hours of the morning. The court also cautioned prudence and ordered the state to prevent future deterioration of law and order. “Resort to the use of force should be the last option, and that too unless the administration has no other way out,” it said.

Surinder Singh Bhoria, the superintendent of police in Kurukshetra, claimed that all diversions have been removed and traffic is now moving. He said that we reached an amicable resolution with the farmers.

Farmers who were protesting afraid that rain and humidity would ruin their crop. Additionally, they claimed that because they lack storage space, the state government should postpone the procurement date.

Hundreds of quintals of grain, which is a gauge of the quality of the paddy before purchase, allegedly got damaged in grain markets in Ambala, Kaithal, and other districts, according to the protesters.

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