Farmers from Haryana, strongly protesting over not getting a Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the procurement of sunflower crop, today, June 12 blocked a national highway to Delhi. The decision to block the road was taken at a ‘mahapanchayat’ held in the Pipli village of Kurukshetra district. Farm leaders from Haryana, Punjab, UP and other neighboring states had gathered at the Pipli grain market for the ‘MSP Dilao, Kisan Bachao’ mahapanchayat to press their demand.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had yesterday transferred ₹ 29.13 crore to the bank accounts of 8,528 sunflower farmers as “interim relief” under the Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana (BBY) last week. Interestingly, Olympian wrestler Bajrang Punia, who recently received support from the state’s farmers during the ongoing protests against Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on sexual harassment charges, attended the mahapanchayat along with farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, who led the massive year-long farmers’ agitation against the now-repealed controversial farm laws.