E-Paper
Farmers block Mumbai-Banda highway
LED BY All-India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS), more than 700 farmers sat on a dharna at Ghoorpur crossing from 11 am on Wednesday to protest failure of the administration to run the irrigation canals of Beekdar and Rehi. In a press release, AIKMS secretary VP Patel said farmers had held several demonstrations on the issue earlier at the office of the SDM Bara and executive engineer (Irrigation) Kailash Nath Yadav, but to no avail.
LED BY All-India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS), more than 700 farmers sat on a dharna at Ghoorpur crossing from 11 am on Wednesday to protest failure of the administration to run the irrigation canals of Beekdar and Rehi. In a press release, AIKMS secretary VP Patel said farmers had held several demonstrations on the issue earlier at the office of the SDM Bara and executive engineer (Irrigation) Kailash Nath Yadav, but to no avail.
He said Mulayam government’s apathy, especially local MP Reoti Raman Singh and local MLA Udaybhan Karwaria, towards farmers’ plight, became clear when the administration took more than four hours to reach the dharna site. Following the dharna, the Mumbai - Banda national highway remained blocked for more than four hours. He said the administration’s callousness had resulted in damage to thousands of acres of paddy crop due to lack of water supply. This had left farmers’ families to starve. The dried harvested crop was placed at the dharna site to expose the anti-farmer attitude of the SP government.
SDM Bara Vipin Misra arrived at the dharna at 3.30 pm and assured the farmers that by October 25 to supply water in canals and regular electricity. Infuriated farmers pressed upon him to visit the canal and fields and see for himself the condition and then announce a compensation for farmers’ loss. After much reluctance he agreed to visit the canal.
The dharna was addressed by AIKMS leaders- Allahabad president Dashrath Nishad, gen secretary Suresh Chandra, vice president, Kailash, Phoolchand Nishad, Pradhan Rehi Shankarlal, Raj Kumar Pathik, Maqbool Shah, Harish Chandra Patel and others.
