Farmers Movement Archive

Grama sabha meets cancelled for fear of resolutions: DMK

Trichy: While the district administration cited the Covid-19 spread as the reason for cancellation of grama sabha meetings scheduled for Gandhi Jayanthi, DMK principal secretary K N Nehru on Friday attributed it to fears over resolutions being passed against the farm bills. Trichy collector S Sivarasu had announced late on Thursday that grama sabha meetings in 404 panchayats in the district had been cancelled due to Covid-19. Addressing people at Alundhur in Manikandam union, Mullikarumbur in Andhanallur union and Appathurai in Lalgudi union, Nehru said the government was apprehensive that the village panchayats will passing resolutions against the farm bills. He alleged that The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, will be detrimental to the interests of the farming community. “The Acts will pave the way for the agricultural sector to come under the control of corporate companies. Agriculture and farmers will be badly hit,” he said. Acting on the direction of party president M K Stalin, DMK functionaries planned to hold meetings in panchayats led by the presidents. Nehru told TOI that over 500 village panchayat presidents in the central region met people but did not conduct the grama sabha meeting. “Since the government ordered not to hold the meeting, it was not organised by us anywhere and resolutions were not passed,” he said. Nehru also said that the police booked them for conducting the meeting during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Times of India

2020-10-03

Trichy