Bathinda: Two major farmer organisations on Friday held a massive protest at the Dussehra Ground in Chandigarh’s Sector 34 against the proposed Indo-US trade deal and the Punjab govt’s revised land pooling scheme.After three-day preparation, members of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) and BKU (Ekta-Dakaunda) staged a vehicle march, with many sitting on the roofs of buses arriving from across Punjab. Accusing govt of ignoring repeated pleas, BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan and BKU (Ekta-Dakaunda) chief Manjit Singh Dhaner said including agriculture in the US trade deal would harm local farmers. “We are not in a position to compete with our US counterparts. They have vast farms and receive huge subsidies, whereas farms in India are small and subsidies are limited,” the two said. Targeting the Punjab govt, the farm functionaries added that the revised land pooling policy was being pushed through despite opposition. They also said that farmers are failing to receive the full benefit of the cooperative sector, as primary agricultural cooperative societies have withheld the enhanced crop loan limits.
