Expressing grave concern at the plight of farmers in Bundelkhand, MP from Pratapgarh, Kunwar Haribansh Singh has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the region and get a first hand feel of the crisis.
"The farmers in Bundelkhand are living under very adverse condition as they have been facing drought for last so many years. I fervently urge the PM to visit the parched region before taking necessary steps to improve the situation," asserted Singh.
Speaking at a dharna of Apna Dal (Krishna Patel Group) in lucknow at lakshman Mela Ground on Thursday, Singh said that the UP government had done nothing to alleviate the farmers' plight in Bundelkhand which has been neglected both the state government as well as the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre.
Asking the UP government to clear the compensations to the farmers immediately, Singh said that the Centre had already despatched its share but the SP government had not forwarded the benefits to the farmers.
Accusing the SP government of being anti-farmer, the MP said that neither any Food Park was set up to incraese the income of farmers nor any agro-based industry came up in UP which could facilitate employment of the rural youths. He also demanded that agriculture be accorded an Industry Status and a `Farmers Commission” be set up to address problems faced by them.
Speaking on the occasion, the national vice-president of Apna Dal, Pallavi Patel said that the party will take the fight of farmers to a logical conclusion by conducting dharna and demonstrations. Recalling the slogan of 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ given by former PM lal Bhadhur Shastri, Patel said that akin to providing arms and ammunitions to jawans at free cost, the government should also provide seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc free of cost to farmers as they were the backbone on the country’s economy.