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Farmers take out tractor march in Haryana

BySunil Rahar, Rohtak
Updated on: Feb 18, 2024 07:04 AM IST

Nearly 150 tractors participated in the march that started from the grain market, where the protesters raised slogans against the government.

The Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) on Saturday took out a tractor march in Rohtak, Sonepat, Jind, Hisar, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar and other parts of the state in support of protesting farmers on the Haryana -Punjab borders.

BKU president Gurnam Singh Charuni led the tractor march at Pehowa in Kurukshetra. (HT Photo)

BKU president Gurnam Singh Charuni led the tractor march at Pehowa in Kurukshetra. Nearly 150 tractors participated in the march that started from the grain market, where the protesters raised slogans against the government.

In Sonepat, farmers, including women and girls drove tractors and kept two toll plazas – Jharauti and Bhigan, free for commuters for three hours. The queues of tractors were witnessed at the Gohana and Ganaur areas in Sonepat.

Charuni said that farmers of Haryana and Punjab are united and their demands are the same.

“The Union government in December 2021 promised us to give a minimum support price (MSP) guarantee to farmers and now they are taking a U-turn. In 2011, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister and headed a financial committee consisting of chief ministers to analyse the Swaminathan Committee Report, he asked the then PM Manmohan Singh to give a legal guarantee on the MSP. Why is the centre now running away from giving a legal guarantee on the MSP?,” he added.

“If the Centre fails to accept their demands, the farmers from both Haryana and Punjab are ready for another big agitation. The women are also taking part in this protest. The Haryana Police has arrested innocent farmer leaders and booked them for attempted murder cases,” she added.

Rohtak BKU(Charuni) district president Raju Makrauli said that Punjab and Haryana farmers are agitating because they know that the mandis will be scrapped if the government does not give MSP on crops.

“If the government does not give guarantees on the MSP, our situation will be like farmers of Bihar, who were pushed as labourers from farmers due to the government’s poor policies,” he added.

Tractor marches were also organised at places of North Haryana including Ambala, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Karnal and other areas.

 
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