Farmworkers in Dirba hold a dharna in front of FM’s headquarters

Today in Dirba, members and activists of organizations that support rural and agricultural laborers held a dharna in front of Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema’s office. They are asking for Rs 5,000 per month in old age pension and Rs 1,000 per month for women, as promised by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recent Assembly elections. They had earlier staged a march around the town and sent a paper outlining their demands to a representative in Cheema’s office. They also urged that the necessary monies be set aside for bettering the social and financial circumstances of agricultural laborers in the Punjab Budget, which will be presented in the Vidhan Sabha on March 5.

The Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union’s state committee member, Harbhagwan Singh Moonak, stated that the organization was also asking for the cancellation of farm laborers’ loans, the assignment of plots to all homeless farm laborers, a grant of Rs 5 lakh for home construction, the proper supply of necessities through ration depots, and the implementation of pro-farmer and pro-farm laborer policies.

In addition, they called for action against the governments of Khattar and Modi for allegedly “committing atrocities” against the protesting farmers along the borders of Khanauri and Shambhu.

Those in attendance were Balwinder Singh Jhaloor, the head of the Krantikari Pendu Mazdoor Union, Gurcharan Singh Gharachon, a member of the Zamin Prapati Sanghrash Committee, and Ghumand Singh Ugrahan, a state committee member of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha.