New Delhi: Prices of farm produce remained high and stocks of vegetables and milk precarious in cities across northern and central India as the ongoing farmers’ strike across several states entered its fourth day.
The June 1-10 boycott of wholesale markets – called "Gaon Bandh" or "Kisan Avkaash" – has been called by 172 farmer organisations in eight states to demand minimum support prices at one-and-a-half times the cost of production and a waiver of all farm loans.
The impact has been felt in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where vegetable prices have shot up by around 30 per cent.
In Delhi, the Youth Congress protested outside the agriculture ministry against Union minister Radha Mohan Singh’s remark last week that the strike was merely a publicity stunt.
"The politicians who run their shops in the capital standing on the heads of farmers must realise that the strike is the penultimate resort. Beyond this there is only suicide," Delhi Youth Congress president Vikas Chikara told The Telegraph.
"Our protest is not just to make the minister feel ashamed of his insensitivity, but also to spread awareness among city dwellers that all that the peasants want is a fair price."
Vegetable stocks at wholesale markets in the capital are expected to last for a couple of days. In Rajasthan, skirmishes continued with 12 milk tankers being attacked near Jaipur, and milk worth a crore being poured on streets by angry farmers.
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