On Monday, farmer leaders (40 SKM political leaders), who have been protesting for their demands for a long time, met with the Chief Minister of Punjab. However, after a heated discussion, the CM walked out of the meeting, causing anger among the farmer leaders.
After the CM left, a farmer leader told the media that the meeting was going well until some demands led to disagreements. After our demands, the CM walked out in anger, saying not to sit on the roads. He inquired about the program scheduled for the 5th. Will you protest or not?
'First time seeing a CM acting like this'
Farmer leader Joginder Singh told Aaj Tak that it's the first time a CM has acted this way, walking out of the meeting in anger.
The CM said he didn’t call the meeting out of fear of protests. He then told us, 'Go ahead, protest.' We told the CM it’s our right to protest, but he left without listening to us. There was no consensus. We will protest. We are hurt by the CM's behavior. If the government or CM were truly farmer-friendly, they wouldn’t act as they did today.
Government's Prior Assurances
The farmers revealed that out of 17 demands, the government had already assured fulfillment of 13. These include forming a sub-committee between the government and farmers to address concerns, launching a settlement scheme for NABARD loans similar to government departments, waiving off electricity bills for motors set up on the Sirhind Feeder Canal starting January 1, 2023, and resolving issues related to government land leases until 2024-25.
Other demands include issuing rifle licenses to prevent crop damage from stray animals, implementing prepaid electricity meters, banning forced supply of nano-packaging and other products to farmers, compensating for sugarcane crop damage due to floods, lifting restrictions on opening new accounts in cooperatives, forming sub-committees, and addressing demands under the National Land Research Act.
