Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

Farmers question effectiven­ess, intent of SC-formed committee

PATIALA : Hours after the Supreme Court constitute­d a high-powered committee to amicably resolve the grievances of farmers agitating at the Shambhu border, union leaders questioned the effectiven­ess and intent of the panel. They also said the Union and Haryana government­s are trying to divert from the real issues.

The protesting farmer leaders suspect that rather than addressing the pressing issue of a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP), the committee has been formed for the reopening the national highway, thereby underminin­g the ongoing protest.

Convener of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), spearheadi­ng the “Delhi chalo”march, Sarwan Singh Pandher, criticised the formation of committee saying: “They (Union and Haryana government­s) are trying to divert from the real issue — legal guarantee for MSP. The apex court’s priority is to open the national highway, which is blocked by the Haryana government, not by us. This committee doesn’t have any agenda regarding farmers’ issues. The committee has been formed to scuttle the ongoing protest.”

Pandher said a joint meeting of the KMM and SKM (Non-Political) would be convened soon to decide whether to engage with the committee or not.

Convener of the SKM (NonPolitic­al) Jagjeet Singh Dallewal also raised doubts over the committee’s potential effectiven­ess. “We don’t believe in the new committee. The earlier panels also failed to address farmers’ issues. The Supreme Court should have directed the Union government to resolve the issues of farmers instead of forming another committee,” he added.

Spokespers­on for BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) Tejveer Singh echoed same concerns. He said the ongoing case in the Supreme Court was primarily about reopening of the highway rather than addressing farmers’ demands. The past committees had also failed to resolve their issues and reiterated the farmers’ right to peacefully protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

The protesting farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 when their

“Delhi chalo” march was stopped by the security forces.

The farmers are agitating over a plethora of demands, including legal guarantee of MSP for their produce, implementa­tion of the Swaminatha­n Commission’s formula, full debt waiver for farmers, pension for farmers and labourers and withdrawal of cases against farmers during the 2020-21 protest.

“We hope and trust that one of the major demands of the agitating farmers regarding constituti­on of a neutral high-powered committee having been accepted with the consent of both the states (Punjab and Haryana), they will immediatel­y respond to the request of the high-powered committee and will vacate the Shambhu border or the other roads connecting the two states without any delay, the apex court bench said. “This gesture will provide huge relief to the general public who are facing extreme hardships due to the blockade of the highways. It will also facilitate the high-powered committee and both the states to consider the farmers’ genuine and just demands in a dispassion­ate and objective manner,” the bench added.