Patil, who was here to address a Congress rally marking the 22nd death anniversary of Parbodh Chander, former Punjab minister and father of Union Minister of State for Industries Ashwani Kumar, said the matter had been brought to his notice by Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal also. "The farmers are facing problems because the fence is very far from the zero line, making thousands of acres useless. Farmers find cultivation difficult due to restricted hours of activity for security reasons. We are discussing the matter with the authorities concerned and some decision in this regard would be taken soon," he said.

Farmers in Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur districts have been resentful for the past many years because of the barbed fence on the border. The NDA government had started a compensation of Rs 3,000 annually per acre, but it was paid only for a year and stopped later. The farmers had protested on the issue and demanded compensation.

Earlier, during his brief interaction with farmers at Chandu Wadala village, Patil listened to their grievances.