Chandigarh, June 19
The demand of supply of power free of cost to the agriculture sector, raised by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) when it was in the opposition in Haryana, returned to haunt the INLD government in the state as the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) today reiterated that it would not allow the state government to ignore the issue.
Talking to TNS from Kandela, Mr Ghasiram Nain, president of the BKU, said they expected the state government to address the BKU’s demand regarding power supply to the agriculture sector on the return of the Chief Minister from his foreign trip.
“During our meeting with the state government representatives at Jind, we were told that the CM was coming back on June 26. On his return, the issue of writing off of pending arrears would be taken up. We will wait till June 30 for some steps from the government in this regard. If they fail to do so, we will resume the agitation,” Mr Nain warned.
He said the BKU also wanted rationalisation of the electricity tariff structure for the farm sector. “The minimum support price(MSP) for crops is the same for Punjab and Haryana even though the farmers of Punjab get power and water free of cost. So, either, the MSP should be increased for Haryana farmers by the Centre or the state government must announce some special incentive or bonus to compensate the farmers who spend more on growing the crops,” Mr Nain said.
He said either the Chief Minister should make an announcement waiving the pending arrears or he should call the BKU for talks on the issue before June 30.
He claimed that the road blocks set up by the BKU supporters were withdrawn not because the BKU was satisfied with the government steps such as withdrawal of cases against the BKU leaders and supporters or the assurance given by the state government regarding giving compensation to the families of those who lost their lives in police action during the BKU-led agitation in May. The blocks were lifted in public interest, due to the problems faced by people because of the disruption of traffic.
The state government, however, seemed happy with the BKU’s decision to wait till June 30 as Mr Sampat Singh, Finance Minister, who was holding charge in the absence of the Chief Minister and led the government team in the negotiations with the BKU, also left to join the CM’s entourage. The Finance Minister, who was scheduled to accompany the Chief Minister, was left behind to handle the BKU tangle.
The relief of the government at the BKU decision to withdraw the road blocks may be of a temporary nature as Mr Nain today warned that unless the issues of pending bills and tariff rates were sorted out, the farmers would not pay their electricity bills.
The government, therefore, will not be able to ignore the BKU’s demands. The government step in December to snap electricity supply to Kandela village due to the villagers’ unwillingness to pay their electricity bills had triggered off violence which was instrumental in leading to the BKU-led agitation in the state.
Meanwhile, the Haryana Power Utilities has notified the steps announced by the Chief Minister earlier to placate the farm sector. These include authorising the executive engineers to allow reduction in load to tubewell consumers, waiving the condition of ‘self-assessment certificate’ for students seeking admission in an institution and allowing electricity connections for horticulture to be treated as agricultural connections.
