LOAN WAIVER A SHAM, SAYS KISAN MUKTI YATRA CONVENER

LUCKNOW: “Farmers in Uttar Pradesh are struggling to make the two ends meet and the loan waiver by the BJP government has proved to be a sham,” said VM Singh, coordinator, Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti.

The organisation is taking out ‘Kisan Mukti Yatra’ which reached Lucknow on Saturday.

“The march is being taken out to take up issues related with farmers, especially loan waiver and adequate cost to farmers of their produce,” said Singh while demanding 1.5 times more than the minimum support price for farmers’ produce.

Singh accused the Modi government of backtracking from all his promises made to farmers before 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

“Farmers’ prosperity can only be assured when they get 1.5 times more than the minimum support price for their produce,” asserted Singh. He claimed that farmers in Uttar Pradesh, especially in eastern part of the state, were still waiting for their loans to get waived. “During our interaction with farmers in eastern UP we came to know that their loans have not been waived as promised by the Yogi Adityanath government,” said Raju Shetty, member of Parliament from Hatkanangle constituency, Kohlapur, Maharashtra. Rampal Jat, farmer leader from Rajasthan, said 181 farmers’ organisations have come under the banner of Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti to form a common platform to fight for farmers’ cause. The first phase of the Kisan Mukti Yatra was kicked off from Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, on July 6 this year, where six farmers had died allegedly in police firing during an agitation earlier this year. The second phase of the yatra was kicked off from Champaran, Bihar on October 2.