Wheat waiting to be lifted,labourer attemps suicide

Hundreds of labourers working in Golewal and nearby grain markets came out on the streets after the incident and staged a protest,blocking the vehicular traffic on the main Faridkot-Ferozepur road.

The mandi caters to nearby villages of Pakhi,Maluka and Khugiana. The wheat coming to the market has been purchased by PUNSUP and around 60,000 bags are lying here waiting to be lifted and shifted to godowns. Around 4 lakh bags are lying in the open in Faridkot district alone.

“The procurement process is almost complete and the farmers have been paid. But people like us who work as daily wagers will only get paid when we load these bags on to trucks and take this crop to their destinations and unload them. However,for the last ten days,there has been no work for us as the truck union of Faridkot has refused to give vehicles. On the other hand,the contractor is not relieving us so that we can go out and find other work,” complained a labourer.

The labourers lifted their protest around two hours later after they were assured by Deputy Commissioner Balwinder Singh and Senior Superintendent of Police J S Randhawa that the grain would be moved at the earliest. The DC said: “We have already sent six trucks to this mandi so that the work can begin at the earliest. At the same time,we will ensure that the grain lying in other mandis is also moved as soon as possible.”