Haryana farmers threaten Delhi march

“It may happen that a bigger agitation can be announced. We can go for an indefinite jam of roads, gherao of Delhi with tractor-trolleys and jail bharo agitation,” said Gurnam Singh Chaduni, president of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Haryana, while addressing hundreds of farmers, who had blocked the National Highway-1, which connects New Delhi with Chandigarh, near Ambala.
Haryana police, meanwhile, have filed FIRs against hundreds of farmers in connection with the blockage of roads by them in different parts of the state on Friday. The police in Rohtak district have filed two FIRs in connection with the blocking of highways — Rohtak-Panipat and Rohtak-Jind. Rohtak SP Pankaj Nain said 42 farmers have been named from about 120 others in two cases lodged in this connection

Explaining in depth, Jogender Singh, an owner of five acres of land at Mamumajra village in Kurukshetra, said, “Last year, we had paddy but we were offered Rs 200 per quintal less than the minimum support price for it. Then, we opted for potatoes but we were offered just Rs 1 per kg in the market while its production cost was Rs 7 per kg. Now, the government has announced Rs 3,950 per quintal MSP of sunflower. But, the government says it will buy only 25 per cent of the production of farmers at the rate of MSP. Where can we sell our rest of the crop now?”

Another sunflower farmer, Rajbir Singh, who has 4.5 acres of land, said, “The government is ready to buy only 25 per cent of the sunflower crops at MSP and to sell rest of the crop, the farmers have to depend on traders, who offer only Rs 2,500 per quintal for this crop in the open market.”

Echoing similar sentiments, farmer Jasbir Singh said, “If we sell the sunflower crop at the rate of Rs 2,500 per quintal, then we will be able to meet just our expenditure and there would not be any saving for us.”

Chaduni said, “We will hold a panchayat in Shahbad on Saturday to demand MSP for the entire crop of sunflower.”