Protesting cotton farmers block railway traffic in Bhatinda

Bhatinda, Jan 6 (ANI): Demanding minimum support price for their cash crop of cotton, hundreds of farmers in Punjab's Bhatinda District on Monday squatted on the railway tracks and blocked train services.

Members of Bhartiya Kisan Union and six other farmers' organisations alleged that the Central Government owned Cotton Corporation of India is not buying their cotton at promised rates.

The farmers added that the Cotton Corporation of India rejected the minimum support price of Rs 2800 per quintal (a unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms) declared by the government.

The farmers said that if the government did not pay heed to their demands, they would intensify their protest from January 9.

"The samples are fine. We should be getting Rs 3100 to 3200 per quintal, but we are being offered not even 2800," said Shingara Singh from Bhartiya Kisan Union.

Cotton is one of the important non-food agricultural and cash crops of Punjab.

Earlier, the Government had announced a 40 per cent hike in minimum support price (MSP) this year from rupees 2,025 to rupees 2,800 per quintal. (ANI)