Tractor-trolley travel ban aimed at scuttling farmers' agitation: Rakesh Tikait

PILIBHIT: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Tuesday opposed the Uttar Pradesh government's move to ban tractor trolleys' use for public transport, saying the decision was an attempt to scuttle movement of farmers, whose preferred mode of travel is through tractors.

The Bharatiya Kisan Union leader said he will write a letter to the government in the matter soon.

"Were trains and other modes of conveyance banned after accidents? The government is disallowing use of tractor trolley for conveyance as part of a well planned conspiracy so that tractors are not used in farmers' agitations," the BKU leader, who was on his way to Uttarakhand after attending the first anniversary of Tikunia violence in Lakhimpur Kheri, told media here .

Twenty-six people were killed and several others seriously injured when a tractor trolley drove off road and fell into a pond in Kanpur on October 1.

In the wake of the incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had appealed to the people to follow safety standards and had proscribed the use of tractor- trolley or truck for public travel.

Asked about the paddy procurement by the government, Tikait said the government has not issued any order on it yet.

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