Hundreds of farmers marching towards Bhubaneswar for a mass convention on Monday were arrested by police.
The police had a tough time in preventing the farmers from entering the State capital as they were adamant to join the proposed convention organised by the Navanirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) demanding price, pension and prestige for the farming community.
Despite imposition of Section 144 of CrPC in Tamando and Hanspal on the outskirts of the city, the farmers including women tied to break the police cordon and enter the city. Meanwhile, an inter-Ministerial committee comprising Agriculture and Panchayati Raj Minister and Cooperation Minister was formed under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera to prepare terms of reference to discuss the demands of farmers.
“We urge the farmers to come forward for a discussion with the Government. We are ready to discuss the demands of the farmers,” stated Behera.
However, NKS convenor Akshaya Kumar said, “The formation of inter-ministerial committee is an attempt to cheat us as the Press release issued by the committee doesn’t mention anything about pension to farmers. If farmers are barred from entering Bhubaneswar, politicians too would not be allowed to enter our villages.”
The farmers’ association has been demanding fair price, pension and prestige for 36 lakh farmers of the State for the past eight years, but the Government is not paying heed to the demands, Kumar alleged.
Opposition party leaders also targeted the State Government for trying to suppress the farmers’ agitation.
BJP State president Basant Panda said, “The State Government is hoodwinking farmers repeatedly with false promises. Although farmers are staging agitation in a democratic manner, efforts are being made to throttle their voices.”
Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra (Congress) too condemned the Government’s attempt to prevent farmers from entering Bhubaneswar, stating the move as undemocratic.
On Sunday, hundreds of members of NKS has also been detained by police at Hanspal and Tamando, where they were forced to spend the night.
Accusing the State Government of being indifferent towards their long-standing demands of fair price, pension and prestige, the NKS launched an eight-day ‘Jan Satyagraha Padayatra’ from October 29.