Farmers vow to march to Delhi as scheduled, Delhi Police gear up to manage traffic
As announced in November last year, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), stuck to its call for a march to Delhi on Tuesday, demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation of fixing the minimum support prices (MSPs) at 50 per cent over and above C2 costs of production. Besides, the farmer leaders have demanded a law should be made, to guarantee purchase of crops at MSP.
A meeting is scheduled to be held at 5 pm on Monday in Chandigarh, where three union ministers and Punjab’s Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann are likely to meet farmers leaders to persuade them to postpone the march, sources said.
Abhimanyu Kohar, coordinator of the march on behalf of SKM (non-political), confirmed the scheduled meeting taking place on Monday, but told businessline that there is no proposal to postpone the march. Long preparation has been made to get the demands met, he added.
Last week, Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal, Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda and Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai had discussed with farmer leaders and had sought time to convey the government’s views on the farmers’demands.
Leaders of SKM (non-political) in November, had announced the decision to bring in lakhs of farmers to Delhi from across the country. Shiv Kumar Kakkaji, a farmer leader had said that there should be unconditional pension for farmers above 60 years of age. Among other demands, the SKM (non-political) has also sought farmers of the country, made completely debt-free, once and for all. There is also a demand forimplementation of minimum 70 per cent, written consent of farmers and compensation at four times the land rate, in land acquisition amongall states, as it is still not implemented in a few states.
However, the 2020 farmer protest, which witnessed coming together of several farmer organisations on one platform, has disintegrated with only the SKM, continuing mainly with left-leaning organisations while the current call given by SKM (non-political), includes Kohar (from Haryana), Kakkji (from Madhya Pradesh) and Jagjit Singh Dallewal (president of Bhartiya Kisan Union – Ekta Sidhupur, Punjab).
Several farmer organisations of Uttar Pradesh, including BKU led by Naresh Tikait and BKU led by Bhasnu Pratap Singh did not associate themselves with the current march to Delhi. On the other hand, the SKM has associated with CITU and others to observe a strike in rural India on February 16.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police on Sunday, issued a traffic advisory, in view of the proposed farmers’ protest, alerting commuters about restrictions on movement of vehicles at three borders of the national capital. According to the advisory, traffic restrictions/diversions will be imposed from Monday for commercial vehicles while private vehicles are asked to take alternate routes.