Gate passes not issues, farmers block road in Karnal

Agitated over the non-issuance of the gate passes for the non-basmati varieties of paddy, hundreds of farmers blocked the Karnal-Yamunanagar highway outside the Indri grain market. Indri SDM Ashok Kumar said that the arrival of paddy has increased in the mandi and the officials had asked the farmers to put their crop on hold until the procured paddy is lifted from the mandi (HT File) The farmers parked their paddy-laden trolleys in the middle of the road and the blockade caused a traffic jam, forcing the authorities to divert the traffic on the link roads for over two hours. The protesting farmers alleged that the government should start procurement of paddy without any delay as the harvesting has already started. leading the protesting farmers, Rampal Chahal, state vice president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) said that around 50% of the crop is ready for harvesting but the government agencies are not starting the procurement and farmers are being forced to sell their produce to the private traders below the minimum support price of ₹2,203 fixed the Union government. Indri SDM Ashok Kumar said that the arrival of paddy has increased in the mandi and the officials had asked the farmers to put their crop on hold until the procured paddy is lifted from the mandi.