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Will join protest by Feb 21 if govt does not include oilseeds in MSP: Charuni
Charuni while addressing the media in Kurukshetra also remarked that it seems that Haryana was ignored in the presence of the majority of Punjab farm leaders
Haryana farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni, head of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) faction, on Monday said that they will also join the agitation after February 21 if the government does not agree to include oilseeds and bajra for procurement on minimum support price (MSP).
This comes a day after the meeting of Union ministers and a delegation of the protesting farmers in Chandigarh.
Charuni while addressing the media in Kurukshetra also remarked that it seems that Haryana was ignored in the presence of the majority of Punjab farm leaders.
During the meeting on Sunday, the farmer’s delegation also discussed the issue of depleting water levels in Punjab and MSP along with crop diversification. After which the Union ministers proposed that cereals like Arhar, Tur and Urad, if brought under MSP, would lead to a reduction in imports, recover the depleted water level of Punjab as well as provide economic pulses for consumers, a statement quoting Union minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution Piyush Goyal said.
The farmers, the statement said, also talked about the issue of maize and cotton and demanded that both these crops must be secured with MSP.
“The ministers have offered the MSP on five crops while missing out on two major crops – oilseeds and bajra. MSP should also be on sunflower, mustard and rapeseed, as well as Bajra, largely grown in Haryana. Due to no fair price to farmers, the area under mustard was converted to wheat. Years ago, we used to produce 97% of oil in the country with favourable prices and now we are bound to import from other countries,” Charuni said.
He further said that there is time till February 21. The government should think and understand that these crops are very important for procurement.
“If these two are not included, we will have to think about it again...Yesterday, we decided that if the government doesn’t agree by February 21, we will also join the agitation,” he added.
Charuni also hit out at Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar for not participating in the meeting of farmer unions with the ministers and misleading the residents.
