Punjab Farmers End Week-Long Chandigarh Border Protest After Deal

Farmer unions have called off their week-long sit-in at the Chandigarh-Mohali border after the Punjab government accepted their demands.

The protest, organised by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha with 32 farmer bodies, ran from September 1 to 7. Farmers were pressing for a legal guarantee on MSP for 22 crops, cancellation of old inter-state water-sharing agreements, a workable crop insurance scheme and loan relief.

Leader Balbir Singh Rajewal described the state's acceptance as unprecedented. According to farmer leaders, the government agreed to revisit water agreements in a special assembly session, work on a one-time debt settlement and keep the state's sugarcane price among the highest in the country.