Farmers Submit Memorandum On MSP Panel

Farmers under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) submitted a memorandum to the Punjab governor on Friday over various issues, including their demand for setting up a panel on minimum support price (MSP).

They also demanded a rollback of a recent move by the Centre to bring changes in the rules for the selection of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) members.

Farmers, who came from various places in Punjab on tractors and other vehicles, gathered at the Amb Sahib gurudwara in Mohali.

Several farmer leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal, submitted the memorandum to Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

They were taken in a bus by the administration from Mohali for a meeting with the governor in Chandigarh, the farmer leaders said.

Farmer leader Darshan Pal said they submitted the memorandum to the governor. Security personnel were deployed and barricades put up at the Chandigarh-Mohali border.

The farmer bodies that sent representatives to submit the memorandum to the governor included the Krantikari Kisan Union, the BKU (Krantikari), the Azad Kisan Committee (Doaba) and the BKU (Lakhowal).

Farmers have been demanding that the Centre fulfil their demands, including setting up a panel on minimum support price (MSP) on crops and withdrawal of cases against them.

They have also been protesting against the changes effected in the rules for the appointment of the two members of the BBMB.

The change of rules for the appointment of top officers to the BBMB has raked up a storm, with many political parties in Punjab and Haryana criticising the Centre.

The BBMB, which is a statutory body under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, that manages the water resources of the Sutlej and Beas rivers, has a whole-time chairman and two members — the member (irrigation) and the member (power).

Usually, the member (power) is from Punjab and the member (irrigation) is from Haryana and both are selected from a panel of senior engineers. But the changes in the rules for the selection criteria allow anyone to apply for the posts.

The SKM, an umbrella body of over 40 farm unions, had spearheaded a year-long agitation against three contentious farm laws of the Centre, that have since been repealed.

It had suspended the stir on December 9 last year after the Centre revoked the laws and agreed to consider its six other demands, including withdrawal of cases registered against farmers during the agitation, a legal guarantee on MSP and compensation for the kin of the farmers who died during the protest.