To discuss various demands, including a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, a delegation of farmers from Haryana on Sunday met the State Government representatives, including the Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Rajesh Khullar, and other officials.
Sources said that the delegation comprising leaders of 13 farmer outfits met the officials under the banner of Haryana unit of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM). After a seven-hour-long meeting, farmer leaders said that they gave a 33-point letter that listed their demands but the issue of opening the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border was not part of the agenda of the Sunday talks.
Farmers’ demands, including legal guarantee on MSP; removal of conditions in crop procurement like purchase limit, online registration on portal among others; payment of crops to farmers should be within the stipulated time, otherwise payment should be made along with interest; in case of crop loss due to natural disaster, the process of giving compensation should be made easier; payment of their pending crop damage compensation and outstanding insurance claims, and ‘saving’ farmers from losses from pink bollworm pest attack on cotton crops.
Besides, the compensation for Kharif 2023 flood-affected districts and other waterlogged places has not been fully distributed and this should be completed immediately. “We gave a list of demands to the government officials. Our main demands are a legal guarantee on MSP. The central government took back (three contentious) farm laws but did not give a legal guarantee on the MSP. So this issue is pending,” said a farmer leader who took part in the meeting.
He said that there are several other issues pertaining to farmers, including those related to land, fertilizers etc. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rattan Mann, Joginder Nain, Balbir Singh and other farmer leaders from the state attended the meeting.
Notably, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had recently directed the Haryana authorities to remove blockades on Punjab-Haryana borders. However, the administration has now approached the Supreme Court against the High Court order. The representatives of the two farmer organizations recently met at Shambhu border and decided to wait for the Supreme Court order.
Sources further said that earlier on July 14, a meeting was organized by the Government to address the concerns of the farmers, in which they had put forward their demands but no decision was taken.
It should be mentioned here that farmers of Haryana have been holding demonstrations, including dharnas, in many districts of the state for many months to press the government to fulfill their demands.
