21 toll plazas seized by protesting farmers in Punjab
Northlines Newsdesk
Sambu Border (India): A day before the proposed fourth round of talks with Union ministers in Chandigarh, senior farmer leaders leading the agitation said that “an ordinance on legal guarantee regarding the minimum support price (MSP) for crops” is the only way to ensure an amicable resolution to the standoff and urged the Center to “stop playing politics” to delay the matter.
The Bhartya Kissan Union (BKU) (Ekta Ugrahan) staged dharnas outside the homes of BJP leaders, including Capt. Amarinder in Patiala, while the BKU (Charuni) conducted a tractor march in Haryana on Saturday. Due to farmer sit-ins in 13 Punjabi districts, at least 21 toll plazas remained closed.
While the Haryana police maintained a vigil, farmer activists maintained a tight vigil and forbade anyone from approaching the barriers, ensuring that the situation at the Shambhu border remained quiet on Saturday.
Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, stated today that the Center needs to take the problem seriously and “immediately bring an ordinance” on providing a legal assurance about the MSP. He stated that they would decide on their next course of action only after the meeting on Sunday.
“An ordinance should be the government's top priority if it hopes to put an amicable end to the agitation. After the Lok Sabha elections, the next Parliament might enact the ordinance as a law, or the current Parliament could legalize it after six months,” he stated.
At Shambhu, he declared, “Instead of dragging out the farm debt waiver, the government can gather information on indebted farmers from banks in two days and demonstrate political will to end the debt.”
Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the chief of BKU (Ekta Sidhupur), stated that the government should make sure an ordinance is enacted with the true intention of “ensuring it becomes a law after six months.”
Leaders of farmer unions and three Union ministers—Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda, and Nityanand Rai—will convene for the fourth round of negotiations on Sunday evening.
At the borders of Shambhu and Khanauri, thousands of farmers are still holding dharnas in the interim. There was no unpleasant event on Saturday, and the atmosphere at the borders stayed calm.
