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Punjab: 12 farm unions hold meeting with top court-formed panel
The move comes days after the farm unions decided not to hold talks with the committee questioning the effectiveness and intent of the panel
Representatives of at least 12 farmer unions owing allegiance to Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) held a meeting with the Supreme Court-appointed high-powered committee in Chandigarh on Monday.
The move comes days after the farm unions decided not to hold talks with the committee questioning the effectiveness and intent of the panel.
Sukhjeet Singh Hardo, a member of the SKM (Non-Political), who was part of the meeting with the committee, said: “Some 12 unions associated with SKM (Non-Political) met the high-powered committee and we handed them a charter of our demands. The committee gave us an assurance that they will look into it.”
When asked about backtracking from their earlier stand, Hardo said: “We had rejected the proposal of talks on multiple grounds. But when the committee again invited us for talks, we decided to at least hold one meeting with them.”
The protesting farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 when their “Delhi chalo” march was stopped by the security forces.
The farmers are agitating over a plethora of demands, including legal guarantee of MSP for their produce, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, full debt waiver for farmers, pension for farmers and labourers and withdrawal of cases against farmers during the 2020-21 protest.
On September 2, the apex court constituted a high-powered committee headed by former Punjab and Haryana high court judge justice Nawab Singh to amicably resolve the grievances of protesting farmers. A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the committee to reach out to the agitating farmers to immediately remove their tractors and trolleys from the Shambhu border to provide relief to commuters.
Jagjeet Singh Dallewal, convener of the SKM (Non-Political) didn’t attend the meeting with the panel citing ill-health.
The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, which is spearheading the ‘Delhi chalo’ march along with the SKM (Non-Political) objected to holding talks with the panel as they had already rejected the proposal in writing.
A member of the KKM pleading anonymity said: “We had objected to their (SKM Non-Political’s) decision to hold a meeting with high powered committee when they had already rejected the proposal. We still stand by our decision and we will not participate in any meeting with high-powered committee.”
