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Centre’s MSP panel: Farmer unions protest near toll plazas in Haryana
Following a call by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), farmers from various unions in Haryana protested near toll plazas of various districts against the Union and state governments on Sunday.
Following a call by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), farmers from various unions in Haryana protested near toll plazas of various districts against the Union and state governments on Sunday.
The unions have termed the 29-member panel set up by the Centre to make minimum support price (MSP) more “effective and transparent” as “misleading”.
The farmers gathered near toll plazas on national highways in Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Ambala, Panchkula and Yamunanagar districts and started peaceful protests that continued from 11 am to 3 pm amid heavy police deployment.
However, there was a delay in the gathering in a few areas due to rain in the region, but the protests ended peacefully after the effigies were burnt.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) factions like Tikait, Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) and Sir Chotu Ram (SCR) led the protests in the region. While members of the Tikait group were largely present at all the agitation sites, the SBS group protested in Ambala, Panchkula, Kaithal and Kurukshetra districts, while SCR only in Karnal.
State president of BKU Tikait Rattan Mann said that the government should fulfil its commitment made to the farmers at the time of agitation at Delhi borders.
Panchkula district president of the SBS faction Tejveer Singh said, “The Union government has also failed to serve justice to those killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and we are also agitating on the issue.”
Earlier, the Haryana SKM leaders had announced to block all key highways and railway tracks of the state and make the toll free for the commuters, but later it was decided that an agitation will be organised and an effigy will be burnt.
The unions believe that the method would have hampered the movement of candidates traveling for various exams at various centres and also the day coincided with Teej festival celebrations.
The farmers laid siege to toll plazas in Rohtak, Hisar, Jind and Bhiwani while accusing the Union government of not fulfilling the promises.
SKM leader Inderjit Singh said the government has failed to give a legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) on crops.
“The government committee has muddled the MSP issue with fringe issues like crop rotation and zero-budget farming which was not acceptable to farmers and we will intensify the movement for the pending demands across the country,” he added.
