Farmers on Monday blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh highway after holding a mahapanchayat in this district to press for minimum support price for sunflower seed. Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) would start a pan-India agitation if a law for MPS, “as promised by the Union government”, is not brought.

The “MSP Dilao, Kisan Bachao mahapanchayat”, called by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni), was held at a grain market in Pipli close to National Highway-44. After the mahapanchayat the farmers gathered on the highway, blocking it. At the mahapanchayat, farmer leader Karam Singh Mathana said the local administration had assured them of a meeting with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to discuss their demands. “But now they say the chief minister has left Karnal”, hence the blockade.