CHANDIGARH: Rejecting the appeal of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, farmers, led by BKU (Ugrahan), today started a five-day long dharna in front of the offices of deputy commissioners in the state, demanding complete farm debt waiver.
Agitating farmers staged sit-in outside 13 offices of deputy commissioners including in Bathinda, Sangrur, Mansa, Muktsar, Faridkot and raised slogans against the Congress government in the state.
The union leaders hit out the state government accusing it of refusing to waive the entire debt of farmers, claiming that the Congress had promised such waiver before the Assembly polls last year.
They also sought Rs 10 lakh compensation for the family of growers who committed suicides, government job to one of their family of members and implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations.
The chief minister had on January 20 appealed to the farmers to shun the path of agitation, saying his government could not afford to waive any more of their debt at the present juncture, but was committed to alleviating all their woes at the earliest.
Because of "lack of support" from the Centre and financial troubles inherited from the SAD-BJP dispensation, the Congress government could not extend the debt waiver scheme to more farmers and waive in excess of Rs 2 lakh, Singh had said.