The agitating farmers are all set to resume their ‘Delhi chalo’ march on Wednesday to press the Centre to meet their demands. These include a legal guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt relief, and no increase in electricity tariffs.
While speaking to reporters on Tuesday, farmer leader Tejveer Singh said, “Tomorrow, on March 6, farmers from all over India will march peacefully towards Jantar Mantar in Delhi.” He said that farmers from various states made their arrangements for marching to the national capital.
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“Farmers from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar have made all preparations to move to Delhi for the march,” Singh added.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has increased security at the Tikri, Singhu, and Ghazipur borders, as well as at railway and metro stations and bus stands, in view of the farmers’ protest march. The farmers have also called for a four-hour nationwide ‘rail roko’ on March 10.
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The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) national body has called for a Mahapanchayat in Delhi on March 14 to highlight issues such as a legal guarantee of MSP, opposition to the electricity amendment bill, freedom from debt, old age pension, rolling back of labour codes, and other pending issues.
After giving a call to march to Delhi on February 13, the farmers have been camping at multiple points in areas bordering the national capital along with their tractors, mini-vans, and pickup trucks, demanding, among others, a law guaranteeing MSP (minimum support price) and withdrawal of police cases against farmers during earlier protests.
During the last round of talks, which ended past midnight on February 18, the panel of three Union ministers made an offer to buy five crops—moong dal, urad dal, tur dal, maize, and cotton—from farmers at MSP for five years through central agencies. However, the protesting farmers turned down the demand and returned to their protest sites.