BATHINDA: Irked by erratic power supply for the farm sector and continuously rising prices of petroleum products, farm organisation BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) held protests against the state and central governments at deputy commissioner offices across Punjab on Friday.
Braving the hot temperature, a large number of activists reached the DC offices and protested against the rising prices. They said only 4-5 hours of power was being supplied for agriculture. They stated that the recently transplanted paddy was drying up for want of drawing underground water due to inadequate power supply. Under such circumstances, farmers have to shell out large sums of money to purchase expensive diesel to water the fields, the protesters said.
With the monsoon eluding, power demand has increased close to 15,000 MW, while the state has the capacity to supply nearly 12,800 MW. Due to erratic power supply, farmers are barging into power grids to forcibly restore power supply during cuts, they said.
“The central and state governments have left farmers high and dry by curtailing supply and increasing prices of diesel. Farmers are living miserably and there is no relief in sight. Seeing no other option, they are in protest mode,” said BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan.
