Not allowed to walk up to CM House, they stage sit-in in Ambedkar Park.
BHOPAL : Farmers from Sagar walked 200kms on foot to reach state capital Bhopal demanding waiver of agriculture debt. They wanted to meet Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The police, however, had different ideas and herded them to Ambedkar Park in Tulsi Park.
Farmers tried hard to move towards CM’s House but in vain. Irked and frustrated, they squatted at Ambedkar Park demanding complete debt waiver and inclusion of more crops in Bhavantar list. The farmers had left Sagar for the state capital on March 20.
They claimed that unseasonal hails and scanty rain had damaged crops in the district. Compensation was yet to be disbursed, they claimed. They said that while loans worth crores of rupees of businessmen and industrialists were being written off by the government, farmers had to walk 200kms to get their petty loans waived off.
They also expressed resentment over Bhavantar Scheme and said that they were yet to receive deficit money of soyabean crop. “If the scheme was launched for the farmers and the latter are unable to reap the benefit then the scheme should be dumped,” they said. They are also soar over non-inclusion of more crops in the Bhavantar list.
Madhya Pradesh government had on Friday removed gram, lentil and mustard from Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana and advised farmers to sell their produce under minimum support price (MSP) for justified price.
Garlic, which was included in the list on March 15, and onion will continue to be under Bhavantar. The scheme is a unique price support scheme to cushion farmers from market price fluctuations. Madhya Pradesh has recorded bumper production of gram, lentil and mustard.
