Farmers have begun their march to Delhi demanding assurance for the minimum support price for their crops following an inconclusive meeting with more than five Union Ministers on Monday.
The meeting in Chandigarh continued till almost midnight. Among the Union Ministers were Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda and Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal.
Post 11 pm, Union Ministers and the farmers finally came on an agreement to repeal the Electricity Act 2020, withdrawal of cases against the farmers’ during their protests in 2021 and compensation to the kin of farmers who were killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimapur Kheri.
However, there was no conclusion on the three key demands that were put forth by the farmers — a law to guarantee minimum support price for their produce, implementation of recommendations made by the Swaminathan Commission and farmer loan waiver.
Soon after the meeting got over, Sarwan Singh Pandher of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee announced the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march is on.
Talking to media persons farmers’ representative said, “Two years ago, the government had promised to meet half of our demands in writing… We wanted to resolve the issue peacefully. But the government is not sincere. They just want to waste time”.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has also made all possible arrangements to stop the farmers from entering Delhi with heavy deployment of police personnel at the Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri borders.
