Farmers come up with 16 demands at Kisan Kranti March
GHAZIABAD:: Hundreds of farmers from western UP led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) arrived at UP Gate on early Wednesday morning and staged a mahapanchayat with their 16-point memorandum demanding action from the Centre. The farmers on October 2 last year had come in large numbers at the UP Gate and raised protest for their demand.
The gathering of farmers started from 5am on Wednesday and the mahapanchayat was held till 4pm before they returned home. They had arrived in tractor trolleys and also cooked food at UP Gate where commuters were not allowed to move and asked to use Anand Vihar border to go to Delhi. “The government has not done much on our demands. The farmer issues have remained pending. There are a lot of pending issues and we have given a 16-point memorandum which was put forward before officials to be given to the Prime Minister. We also demand cheap electricity as it is available in Delhi. The farmers have not been able to sell their produce on minimum support price and are compelled to sell their cops on half the price due to various pending issues,” said Rakesh Tikait, the national spokesperson of the BKU.
The farmers later put up a banner at the UP Gate naming it ‘Kisan Kranti Gate’ where their first agitation in 2018 was held.
“We will come here every year and hold mahapanchayat to press for our demands. It is here that we started our first agitation in 2018,” he added.
Their demands include timebound waiver of all types of loans, immediate payment of pending sugarcane prices along with interest, fixing the minimum support price of sugar at Rs 40, exempting the farmers’ equipment like tractors, diesel sets, etc out of the 10 year limit set by NGT for use of diesel vehicles, to bring losses by fire and wild animals under the ambit of PM Fasal Bima Yojna and holding a special joint session of Parliament for discussing farmers’ issues.