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No invitation from Centre for fresh round of talks: Dallewal
There is no invitation from the Centre for fresh round of talks since the last meeting ended in a deadlock on Monday night, said Jagjit Singh Dallewal of the BKU (Ekta Sidhupur). There is no invitation from the Centre for fresh round of talks since the last meeting ended in a deadlock on Monday night, said Jagjit Singh Dallewal of the BKU (Ekta Sidhupur).
There is no invitation from the Centre for fresh round of talks since the last meeting ended in a deadlock on Monday night, said Jagjit Singh Dallewal of the BKU (Ekta Sidhupur).
Farmer unions under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) have started their ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest march on Tuesday.
Pressing the Centre for their demands, farmers and supporters of 17 farm bodies led by BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) are making attempts to cross over to Haryana by breaking the barriers laid by the neighbouring state at Shambhu and Khanauri.
Dallewal clarified that there is no invitation from the Centre for a fresh round of talks. “But we are always open to talks. We are waiting for an invitation,” he said. He added that the attempts by the farm organisations to enter Haryana and resume protest march would continue tomorrow.
The farm bodies’ talks with the central ministers, food and consumer affairs minister Piyush Goyal and agriculture minister Arjun Munda, on Monday continued for five hours, but remained inconclusive.
Besides a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP), the farmers are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations which include 50% profit on sale of crops over and above the input cost, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, withdrawal of police cases, justice for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, withdrawing from the World Trade Organisation, and compensation for families of farmers who died during the previous agitation.
Addressing mediapersons, Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said the efforts to cross over to Haryana would resume on Wednesday and during the night the farmers have been asked to rest. He appealed to the police and the civil administration, particularly on the Haryana side, to stop using rubber bullets and tear gas shells.
“The central government has been saying that they are open to talks but they are trying to buy time,” he added.
