Farmer Leader Slaps Food Supply Official During Protest In Kurukshetra

Kurukshetra: The farmers' protest over delays in paddy procurement outside the mini secretariat in Haryana's Kurukshetra, which had been ongoing since Tuesday evening, escalated on Wednesday after farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni slapped a District Food and Supply Controller (DFSC) officer. He was immediately arrested along with several other farmers on the spot, and a heavy force has been deployed to control the situation.

After suffering huge losses due to the non-procurement of paddy, Charuni alleged that the administration is deliberately withholding paddy from his shop and discriminating against him. Unable to find a solution, he staged a protest outside the mini secretariat, where farmers arrived with trolleys of paddy.

"The protest will continue until our issue is resolved. We have appealed to farmers across the state to reach the Kurukshetra mini secretariat with trolleys of paddy. Despite repeated discussions with senior officials, no concrete action has been taken," Charuni said.

Meanwhile, the administration has appealed to farmers to maintain peace and assured them of expediting the procurement process.

On September 25, farmers of the BKU (Charuni) blocked National Highway (NH) 44 for nearly two hours at Shahabad-Markanda town over the slow procurement of paddy in the grain markets. Led by Charuni, the highway blockade continued from 3 pm to 5 pm, resulting in traffic jams.

The protesters budged after a series of talks with the administration, where Shahabad SDM, DSP, and the district food and civil supplies controller promised to take farmers' grievances to government representatives. This came after two rounds of talks between the farmers and the government officials failed.

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