FAISALABAD, Dec 15: Farmers belonging to villages located on Narwala Road staged a demonstration in Chak-29 on Monday and blocked the road for two hours to protest shortage of fertilizers, particularly urea.
PML-N local leaders, including Shehbaz Kissana, who was party ticket holder for NA-81, Dr Hafeez and Rana Khalid led the demonstrators who also burnt tyres to throw traffic out of gear.
Carrying banners and placards and chanting slogans against the district administration and fertilizer dealers, the protesters bemoaned the shortage of fertilizers as well as inaction of the government to clamp down on profiteers and hoarders.
Addressing the protesters, Kissana, Qari Ishfaq, Rana Papu and other speakers said that hoarders and profiteers had been fleecing poor farmers without any hindrance. They said it was unfortunate that on the one hand, the government had been spending millions of rupees to mobilise farmers to cultivate more and more wheat, but, on the other hand, it was not taking any step to check black-marketing and shortage of fertilizers.
They said that the shortage of fertilizers would affect the wheat cultivation and all government efforts to avoid its scarcity in the coming season would go down the drain. Kissana said that sufficient stock of fertilizer was available with dealers, however, they had been charging Rs1,000 per bag of urea fertilizer instead of Rs650, the rate prescribed by the government. He said the government should immediately form farmers’ committees to distribute fertilizers across the board.
This was second demonstration of its kind held in this district within a week. Earlier, farmers of Jaranwala vent their ire against the black-marketing and shortage of fertilizers by blocking the Faisalabad-Jaranwala Road on Friday.
Their demonstration moved the district administration to arrest a few hoarders, however, farmers of Jaranwala tehsil were still running from pillar to the post to get even a single bag of the manure.
VEHARI: Farmers held a demonstration on Khanewal Road on Monday to protest the shortage and black-marketing of urea fertilizer.
Growers belonging to Chak 24-WB, 26-WB, 75-WB, 77-WB, 79-WB, 61-WB, 83-WB, 93-WB and 95-WB blocked the road and threw traffic out of gear for quite some time.
Addressing the protesters, Malik Nawaz, Ghulam Murtaza, Rashed Gujar, Ch Khadim and Rana Nawaz said the district administration had failed to enforce urea fertilizer’s Rs650 per bag price prescribed by the provincial government.
They said dealers were selling a urea bag for Rs950 and that too on the ‘recommendation’ of district government officials, who were ignoring small growers.
They also intercepted a trailer laden with fertilizer bags being transported to the godown of a local dealer. However, the police intervened on which the protesters dispersed.
Meanwhile, DDO (R) Ayub Khan has said a strict action would be taken against dealers flouting the prescribed rates. He also warned dealers of action if they did not display price lists on conspicuous places at their outlets.