Punjab Government, farmers reach consensus on 12 of 13 demands; dharna to end
Chandigarh, May 18: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has agreed to 12 of 13 demands raised by farmers, who have been staging a dharna at the Chandigarh-Mohali border since Tuesday.
The meeting between Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and farmer leaders lasted for over two and half hours. Both sides reached a compromise and of the 13 demands that farmers had made, there has been consensus on 12 issues.
However, no consensus could be reached on the demand of farmers with regard to giving a compensation of Rs 500 per quintal to farmers whose wheat yield dropped because of intense heat wave in March.
Punjab minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal made official announcement with regard to farmers lifting the dharna from the Chandigarh-Mohali border.
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Notably, farmers had announced to launch a 'pucca dharna' in Chandigarh last week, after talks with the state government led by Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO had failed.
On Tuesday, farmers, owing allegiance to 23 farmer unions, reached Mohali and tried to march towards Chandigarh. However, they were stopped at the Chandigarh-Mohali border.
Earlier, Bhagwant Mann called the protest "unwarranted" and "undesirable". "It's their right to protest... 'murdabad-murdabad' doesn't seem nice... I'll make everything right, but that doesn't mean that after 2 months, you start thinking 'murdabad' slogans haven't been raised, let's go to Chandigarh," said Bhagwant Mann.
The Punjab Chief Minister on Tuesday asked the farmers to stop mere sloganeering and join hands with the state government for checking the depleting water table in Punjab.
The farmers' demands
The farmers are demanding that they be allowed to go in for paddy transplantation from June 10 and not June 18, as ordered by the state government, and were opposed to the staggered transplantation schedule given by the government.
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They are protesting against the conversion of 85,000 smart meters into pre-paid meters. They also wanted that the government ensured that farmers get MSP on maize and notify the decision to give them MSP on Moong. The farmers said that though MSP on 23 crops is announced, but farmers get MSP only on wheat and paddy.
-PTC News
