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Ghatak speaks to farmers in Burdwan. (Gour Sharma)
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Durgapur, Jan. 27: Over 400 farmers today blocked the busy Durgapur Expressway (NH2) for nearly six hours protesting mill owners’ “refusal” to buy paddy from them, holding up thousands of people, including a minister and a senior police officer.
The blockade in Galsi’s Paraj village was lifted after law minister Malay Ghatak, whose convoy was stuck for an hour, rode pillion on a bike for 9km and assured the farmers that more co-operative camps would be set up so that they can sell their produce.
Traffic came to a halt on both lanes of the highway after the blockade started at 6am. Thousands of trucks, buses and cars got stuck as the farmers squatted on a 10km stretch of the highway.
The district administration said Burdwan had an excess paddy production of 16 lakh metric tonnes this year.
“There are 20 operational mills in Galsi (where Paraj is located), but they are not enough to buy the entire produce. So the government has asked primary agricultural co-operative societies to organise camps in Burdwan for four days from January 31. These co-operatives will buy the paddy from farmers and sell it to the government,” an official said.
In Paraj, Gangeswar Singh, the IG (western range), was allowed to proceed after his guards repeatedly requested the farmers to let him pass.
Minister Ghatak, who was stranded in his Scorpio on his way back to Calcutta from Asansol, rode pillion on the bike of a Trinamul supporter to reach the protest spot.
“At least seven farmers have committed suicide in Burdwan after failing to get the right price for paddy. Is your government sleeping?” a farmer told Ghatak.
“I could not sell 280 sacks of paddy this year. Another 1,200 sacks of paddy I harvested last year are rotting in my house,” said Haidar Ali Mandal, 35, a Paraj farmer. Alo Mandal of neighbouring Kestorampur village said: “The local mill owners are buying paddy from farmers and dealers in Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh at cheaper rates.”
Ghatak, DM Onkar Singh Meena, district controller of food and supply Raju Mukherjee held a meeting with the agitating farmers on the roadside around 11am and the blockade was lifted at noon.“I have asked the DM and the DCFS to set up at least 10 additional camps in Galsi,” he said.
Sheikh Ahmed Ali, the assistant secretary of the West Bengal Rice Mill Owners’ Association (Burdwan chapter), refuted the farmers’ allegations. “The farmers had tried to sell their paddy out of turn. They can sell to us only after the panchayats give them tokens. But many farmers are coming without the tokens and are demanding that we buy their paddy,” Ali said.
“Each mill has a daily target (ranging between 200 and 600 sacks) for buying paddy. But the farmers are refusing to listen to us,” he added.
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