Farmers protest to disrupt the supply of vegetables, milk

| | Lucknow | in Lucknow

Several farmers in Sambhal district tried to disrupt the supply of vegetables, milk and other items as part of their 10-day nationwide protest to press for various demands on Friday.

“Farmers will not be selling milk, vegetables and grains in urban areas from June 1 to 10 as milk and tomato were fethcing very low rates,” Sanjiv Tyagi of Bharatiya Kisan Union said while addressing a panchayat in Bhadraula village of Sambhal.

“Farmers are not getting remunerative price for their produce including food grains, fruits and vegetables. We also demand that farmers be given 50 per cent profit on cost incurred on crops by them,” he said.

Tyagi warned, “We will take our cattle to every tehsil office in the state and tie them to the gates of these offices. We hope that this way we will be able to catch the attention of the government towards farmers’ issues.’’

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Kisan Manch (a farmers’ outfit) distanced itself from the bandh call.  “There was no response of the bandh in Lucknow and adjoining districts. We are of the view that there is no point in telling farmers to throw their produce on streets, as they had put in their labor and hard work to produce crops,” Rashtriya Kisan Manch chief Shekhar Dixit said. 

“If the farmers’ condition is to be improved, then I would urge them not to sow seeds of grain or crop. This will also help farmers in avoiding losses and also register their protests,” Dixit said.

Farmers across India began a 10-day nationwide strike, a year after the first wave of strikes hit the country. On Friday, thousands of farmers from Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana started the strike demanding waiver of loans, right price for their crops and implementation of recommendations of Swaminathan Commission. The farmers shut down the supply of milk, vegetables and essential farm produce leading to spurt in price of vegetable in the market. 

The protests were called to mark the first anniversary of Mandsaur demonstration in Madhya Pradesh, in which six farmers were killed in police firing.