Mahapanchayat begins after official talks fail
Farmers in large numbers gathered here for a mahapanchayat as the local authorities braced themselves for a possible gherao of the district headquarters by protesters after talks between farm leaders and officials appeared to yield no result.
Farmer unions had demanded action against officials over the lathi-charge against protesters on August 28 in Karnal. Otherwise, they had threatened, farmers will lay siege on the Karnal mini-secretariat.
As farmers gathered for the mahapanchayat, an 11-member delegation was invited by the local administration to discuss their demands and dissuade them from marching towards the secretariat.
“The administration did not agree to our demands,” Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union (Chaduni) leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni told reporters three hours after the talks began.
He said the talks had failed to yield results.
“Now, the next course of action will be decided at the mahapanchayat,” he said when asked if the protesters will go ahead with their plan to gherao the district headquarters, a few kilometres away.
BKU leader Rakesh Tikait told reporters that they had demanded the suspension of the IAS officer who was caught on tape allegedly telling po men to “break heads” of testing farmers if they cro the line.
Rakesh Tikait, Balbir Si Rajewal, Joginder Singh U han, Darshan Pal and Yoge Yadav were among the se Samyukt Kisan Morcha (S leaders who had reached nal for the rally being held after a huge mahapanchay Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarn district.
Farmers from Punjab, H ana and Uttar Pradesh h been protesting for mo over the three farm l enacted at the Centre, clai that the legislation will lea the erosion of the minim support price (MSP) syste
Deputy Commissioner N ant Kumar Yadav, Karn Inspector General of Po Mamta Singh and Superint ent of Police Ganga Ram Pu were among the officials took part in the talks with farm leaders.