Farmers stage dharna over basmati price crash
Amritsar, October 20
The farmer unions associated with the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha staged a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Friday. They were holding a protest against the recent crash in the prices of basmati. The prices of basmati varieties have come down to nearly Rs 2,500-2,600 from the initial prices of Rs 3,600-3700 per quintal.
The farmers unions have also announced that they would hold a ‘rail roko’ protest from 11 am to 2 pm on October 25 if the government failed to intervene to restore the prices. The farmer leaders stated that high minimum export price (MEP) of Rs 1,200 per tonne fixed by the Central Government had forced the traders to stop purchasing the produce.
Jatinder Singh Chinna of the Kirti Kisan Union said, “The procurement of produce has been greatly affected. The Union Government had earlier announced that it would relax the export norms, but, practically, it has not done so.” Chinna said inclement weather conditions and strike by the millers had also led to crashing of basmati prices.
Farmer leaders stated that fixing the minimum support price (MSP) for basmati was the only way to protect the interests of the basmati growers. The government had promoted the cultivation of basmati in the district this season following which paddy crop was cultivated on 1.42 lakh hectares out of the total 1.80 lakh hectares under paddy. But now the cultivators here have been affected by the sharp fall in the paddy prices.
Farmer leaders Rattan Singh Randhawa and Balwinder Singh Dudala said an MSP of Rs 5,000 per quintal should be fixed for basmati. They stated that the prices of the agricultural produce were fixed by private traders and the farmers had no say in it. They demanded that their agitation to get legal guarantee for the crops would be further intensified as it was the only way of survival for the agrarian community.
