Farmers protesting in Phagwara for the past five days over the non-payment of dues by a sugar mill lifted the blockade from the one side of the Jalandhar-Ludhiana stretch of the National Highway-1 on Saturday.

The decision came after Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said his government had withdrawn the letter of open auction of the Phagwara sugar mill property and directed the Kapurthala deputy commissioner to expedite direct registry of it. Dhaliwal had held a two-hour-long meeting with farmers' representatives and senior officials late Friday evening.

The open auction letter had become a bone of contention and angered the farmers, the minister had said. However, farmers said they will continue to block one side of the highway. Manjit Singh Rai, president of the Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba), and Satnam Singh Sahni, general secretary of the farmer body, on Saturday said blockades on roads leading to Hoshiarpur, Nakodar and Nawanshehar have also been lifted. Service lanes and other arterial routes were also cleared of any obstacle for the convenience of the public, they said. The one side of the Jalandhar-Ludhiana section of NH-1 had been blocked since Monday while the other side was blocked on Friday. The farmer leaders said they were given the government's letter through which the condition of open auction of sugar mill's Fatehabad property was withdrawn.

They said the minister shared several other measures to be taken for making the mill management fall in line. However, the farmer leaders said a massive gathering of farmers from all over Punjab will be held here on 25 August if Rs 72 crore of cane farmers were not cleared by then. All 31 constituents of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha will take part in the massive morcha of 25 August, they said. They also said they have not called off their protest. ''Our indefinite 'dharna' and partial blockade will continue,'' they said.