Lucknow: In a significant development on the day farmers complete 100 days of their agitation, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met a delegation of farmers from Western Uttar Pradesh on Saturday to take a step towards brokering the deadlock over three farm laws.
The delegation included heads of about a dozen Khap Panchayats, who are supporting the farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws. The meeting was arranged by two BJP MLAs from Western Uttar Pradesh Umesh Malik and Tejendra Nirwal.
During the meeting, delegation members raised the issue of sugarcane dues and hike in prices of power in rural areas. They demanded free power supply to private tubewells and an increase in MSP for sugarcane, which is the main crop in Western UP.
The Chief Minister assured the delegation to look into their demands and address them soon. He, however, told delegation members that the state government has cleared 98 per cent of sugarcane dues pending since 2012. The remaining is being paid on priority basis, he added.
Yogi Adityanath assured delegation members that farmers are on priority of the Central and State governments. He said that the three farm laws were enacted to double farmers’ income as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He claimed that the small marginal farmers will reap maximum benefits from the new laws.
The CM further claimed his government broke all previous records in buying wheat and paddy on MSP and stood first in the country on implementation of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi.
Yogi Adityanath claimed that farmers should not go by rumours being spread by the opposition parties and vested interests on new farm laws. Instead, they should accept the Prime Minister's ‘one phone call away offer’ to hold fresh talks. Dialogue will remove their confusion and Centre will certainly listen to their suggestions, he added.
It was for the first time in 100 days since farmers’ agitation began, the state government held talks with some of their leaders and heads of Khap Panchayat. A government spokesman claimed that it was the first step in opening a channel of dialogue to address agitating farmers’ grievances.
