Farmers' protest: Piyush Goyal, Union ministers meet leaders to allay fears

Chandigarh: A three-member team of Union ministers on Thursday met leaders of farmer organisations which plan 'Delhi Chalo' march to press for their demands, including enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price for crops.

The team includes Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Arjun Munda, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said before the meeting began here in the evening.

Pandher said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann coordinated with them for arranging the meeting with the central team.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha had announced 'Delhi Chalo' march by more than 200 farmers' unions on February 13 to press the Centre for accepting several demands, including enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

SKM (Non-Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal had earlier said three central ministers will hold a meeting with them in Chandigarh. Chief Minister Mann will also be a part of the meeting.

"We have come here. We do not run away from the meeting," said Dallewal.

He said one of their main demands included a legal guarantee for the MSP which had been "promised" by the Centre earlier.

Besides a legal guarantee for the MSP, the farmers are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

In 2020, a large number of farmers from Punjab and nearby areas of Ambala gathered at the Shambhu border and broke police barriers to march toward Delhi.

Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, held a year-long protest on Delhi's border points -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur -- against the three now-repealed farm laws.