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Farmers, orchardists gherao Himachal secretariat
The farmers warned that if the state government failed to implement the SC’s order and did not effectively take up their demands with the Centre, they would intensify their agitation and take the protest to Delhi in the coming days
Farmers and orchardists from different parts of Himachal on Monday gherao the state secretariat and demanded immediate implementation of the Supreme Court’s directions to frame a clear policy for regularisation and protection of farmers’ land, and urging the state government to take up the issue of apple and other agricultural produce being kept out of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the Union government.
The farmers warned that if the state government failed to implement the SC’s order and did not effectively take up their demands with the Centre, they would intensify their agitation and take the protest to Delhi in the coming days.
The CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, last week, had held meetings with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union minister for commerce and industries Piyush Goyal in New Delhi and urged for urgent intervention against the crippling influx of foreign apples.
The protest was jointly organised by the Himachal Pradesh Kisan Sabha, the Himachal Pradesh Apple Growers’ Association and several other farmers’ and fruit growers’ organisations.
Addressing the protesters, Sanjay Chauhan, convener of the joint forum of apple farmers’ organisations, said the primary demand was that the state government must immediately frame and implement a policy as directed by the SC, instead of continuing evictions and cutting of orchards under the pretext of HC orders.
“For a long time, the Revenue and Forest departments of the state government have been carrying out evictions of poor and marginal farmers and cutting apple orchards by citing High Court orders. Our first demand is that this be stopped immediately,” Chauhan said.
He added, “The SC clearly said that framing a policy is not the job of the High Court but of the government, and directed that a policy be made to provide land to small, poor and marginal farmers. Despite the clear Supreme Court directions, the state government had not yet implemented the order on the ground”.
Chauhan added that the farmers were deeply concerned over FTAs under which import duties on fruits were being reduced. “Under recent Free Trade Agreements, including one with New Zealand, import duty on apples, pears and kiwi has reportedly been reduced from around 50% to 25% . There are also talks of reducing tariffs on apple imports under bilateral trade discussions with the US. If apple imports are liberalised, it will put the livelihoods of nearly 15 lakh apple-producing families in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir at risk. We demand that agricultural produce be kept completely out of FTAs and that at least 100% import duty be imposed on apples to protect domestic farmers,” Chauhan added.
In the evening, a delegation of Himachal Pradesh Seb Utpadak Sangh, led by former MLA Rakesh Singha called on chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and presented a demand charter of apple growers to him. The CM assured them that the state government will consider their demands sympathetically. Horticulture minister Jagat Singh Negi was also present on the occasion.
