Farmers ready to begin stir for water, loan waiver
Farmers in Bharatpur held a meeting on Thursday and decided that they will soon launch an agitation to demand waiver of farm loans and water for farmers.
State Congress vice president Vishvendra Singh attended the meeting, held at Fulwara village. He demanded that the government should waive off agriculture loans and provide water for farming. Farmers are unable to grow crops due to the shortage of water. The ongoing water crisis has already damaged Kharif crops.
“The state government should declare Bharatpur as droughtaffected and offer compensation to farmers. More than 95% farmers have taken agriculture loans. We will fight for water and farm loan waiver,” Singh said.
They are demanding water from the Chambal Drinking Water Project for every village in the district and also water from Govardhan drain and water from the Yamuna from Haryana.
According to a water-sharing pact signed by five states – Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan – on May 12, 1994, the Central Water Commission had sanctioned 1,281 cusecs of Yamuna water to Bharatpur.
Around, 80% of the groundwater in the district is saline. Farmers have been demanding Yamuna water from Haryana through the Gungaon canal since 1984 but in vain.
The district is famous for its mustard. Out of the gross cropped area as 5,070,73 hectares in the district, nearly 3,90,313 hectares of agriculture land is infertile because of salinity.
Meetings will be arranged in all villages to spread awareness about the agitation.
Thousands of farmers had gathered for the at Jahangeerpur village (under Nadbai subdivision) on Wednesday, where Singh, farmers’ leader Nem Singh said that they are planning the agitation.
The date and venue of the agitation will be decided soon if the government doesn’t consider their demands.