CHANDIGARH: Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organization of all the farmers' unions on Saturday formed a five-member committee to have parleys with the Union Government on the pending demands including a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP), compensation to the deceased farmers who died during the year-long agitation and withdrawing of police cases registered on farmers.
A farmer leader, requesting anonymity, said at one of the farmer leaders, who is now a member of the committee formed to talk to the government, got a phone call from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday late evening to sort out the issues. The committee was formed following that, the farmer leader added.
The next meeting of SKM has been called on December 7 to chalk out the further course of action. It was also decided unanimously that the farmers' agitation will continue as is until formal and satisfactory responses are obtained from the central government.
After a marathon meeting held at the Singhu border to discuss pending demands of the farmers' agitation and the lack of a formal response from the Union government, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait and BKU (Lakhowal Group) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal said, "A five-member committee comprising Balbir Singh Rajewal, Shiv Kumar Kakka, Gurnam Singh Charuni, Yudhvir Singh and Ashok Dhawale has been formed to talk to the central government on all the pending issues action. The next meeting of SKM will be held on December 7. There is a gap of two days for the Union Government to respond to SKM's demands."
Another farmer leader Ashok Dhawle said that the issues of compensation for the farmers who died during the agitation, withdrawal of cases registered against farmers and the Lakhimpur Kheri incident were discussed in the meeting.
Senior SKM leader Dr Darshan Pal said, "It was decided unanimously that the farmers' agitation will continue as is until formal and satisfactory responses come from the Union Government. The SKM has sent a letter to the Prime Minister on November 21 after he announced the repeal of the farm laws. The central government has, however, chosen to work informally and in a piecemeal fashion of responding to some of the issues being raised by the farmers."
"Farm unions have a bitter experience from the past of getting only oral assurances to end their agitation. We will not end this agitation without formal responses on each of the issues being raised by us. We want to see all the cases registered against farmers and their supporters to be withdrawn," said SKM leaders after the meeting on Saturday.
The six pending demands of the farmers are -- legal entitlement for all farmers to realise remunerative MSP for any agricultural produce, withdrawal of Electricity Amendments Bill 2020/2021, deletion of Section 15 in the law related to setting up of a commission for Delhi Air Quality regulation, withdrawal of cases registered on the protesting farmers and their
supporters in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, rehabilitation for the kin of the "martyrs" of the movement whose number is now around 708, land allotment for a memorial to be built for them and arrest and sacking of Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni in Lakhimpur Kheri farmers' massacre.
"This five-member committee will also decide on state-level teams that might have to work along with some governments on certain issues," said Pal.
A large number of farmers gathered outside the building where the meeting took place. A group of 10 to 15 farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan sat on the pavement outside, wearing chains, in a symbolic protest and demanded the guarantee of MSP from the government, saying these farmers will not budge unless it is granted.