Chandigarh, January 2: Hundreds of farmers under the banner of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) today began the New Year by starting a five-day dharna outside various banks in different parts of the state against loan recovery notices issued to farmers.
Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, general secretary of the union, said they had been forced to sit on the roads on the New Year’s Day as they had no reason to celebrate it. He said the Congress government in the state and the BJP at the Centre had only offered lip service to the farmers on loan waiver, but did nothing.
Instead, he alleged, the governments had stabbed them by issuing auction notices for their mortgaged land. “The political parties make hollow promises during the elections and then conveniently forget about us,” he said.
Kokri Kalan criticised Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on his claims of farm loan waiver made in an interview today. He said the ground reality was completely different and the government was not presenting the true picture before the media.
He said the loan waiver had not been implemented properly and covered only a small percentage of the farming community and almost negligible number of farm labourers.
He said the government should pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of a farmer who committed suicide due to debt. He also demanded a government job for next of kin. The union leaders also stressed on the implementation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations, besides better price for various crops and regular power supply.
The union announced that the protests would continue across the state till January 5 after which the next course of action would be announced depending on the government’s response.
“The state government had announced a complete debt waiver for farmers during the elections, but only partial waiver was provided. After the announcement of complete debt waiver, farmers stopped repayment of loans and banks started harassing them with blank cheques. We will intensify our agitation if banks do not return blank cheques immediately,” said Amrik Singh, Sangrur district president of BKU (Ugrahan).
Source Tribune India
