By IANS,
Kurukshetra (Haryana) : Agitating farmers affiliated to the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) lifted their blockade of the busy National Highway No.1 (NH-1) near Haryana’s Pipli town Thursday following the state government’s assurance that their demands would be taken up.
The agitating farmers had blocked the highway Thursday evening and did not move for nearly two hours, leading to hundreds of vehicles stranded on both sides of the highway linking New Delhi with Ambala and Amritsar.
Thousands of commuters were stranded on the highway. Vehicles could be seen taking detours through link roads of nearby villages.
The farmers were demanding that the Swaminathan report on farming be accepted so that farmers get higher renumeration for farming. They were also upset that farming had become non-lucrative owing to higher farm inputs.
The blockade was lifted only after Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda assured through the district authorities here that the demands of the farmers would be taken up with the central government.
Pipli is about 100 km from Chandigarh.