Members of the Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) Doaba and BKU Lakhowal held protests today against incessant power cuts in the region, which have created a crisis in rural areas due to inadequate power supply to agricultural motors.Farmers affiliated with BKU Doaba gathered at Dana Mandi in Banga and then proceeded to the office of the XEN, Powercom, Banga, where they submitted a memorandum seeking restoration of at least eight hours of power supply to agricultural motors.In Jalandhar, members of BKU Lakhowal staged a dharna outside the Powercom office at Shakti Sadan and raised slogans against the state government.Farmers of both unions said that instead of the scheduled six to eight hours of power supply to agricultural motors, they were receiving less than four hours of electricity. They alleged that unscheduled power cuts were also being imposed during the designated supply hours.Davinder Singh Sandhwan, vice-president of BKU Doaba, said, “The government’s claim that farmers are being provided uninterrupted power supply to their motors for eight hours is completely false. In some places, motors are not receiving power even for four hours. In my village, Sandhwan near Behram, the scheduled supply is from 2.30 am to 10 am. However, power is sometimes restored as late as 7.30 am, while the supply is cut off exactly at 10.30 am. Even three kanals of crop cannot be irrigated in such a short period. Villagers and farmers are facing an acute power crisis, which has made it difficult to irrigate their crops.”He added that the farmers had met the XEN, Banga, and had been assured that the power supply would be restored. “If this does not happen, we will intensify our protest,” he said.Meanwhile, at the Jalandhar dharna, Parminder Singh Bhinda, district press secretary of BKU Lakhowal, said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government had promised farmers uninterrupted power supply for eight hours during the paddy season but had failed to fulfil its commitment.“Farmers are being provided electricity for only around three hours, with major power cuts being imposed, due to which their crops are beginning to dry up,” he said. He added that a shortage of electricity department employees was also causing difficulties for farmers, claiming that there was often only one junior engineer (JE) in an entire division and that, in some cases, JEs did not respond to farmers’ calls.Farmers staged a three-hour dharna today at Shakti Sadan, the Powercom office in Jalandhar. The SE of Powercom assured them that power supply would be restored from today.Following the assurance, the farmers ended their dharna but warned that if they did not receive eight hours of power supply within two days, they would again surround the Powercom office. They also threatened to block the main GT Road in the coming days, holding the Punjab Government and the Powercom department responsible for any such action.