Farmers Movement Archive

Another farmer in UP destroys crop to show anger against non-payment of MSP, hike in fuel prices

Agra: A farmer in Mathura district destroyed his standing wheat crops on five bighas of farmland to register his protest against non-payment of minimum support price (MSP) and the recent hike in fuel prices. Talking to reporters, the farmer, Sukhbir, a resident of Umraya village in Chhata block, said that the government is not making MSP a legal right of the farmers and they were being forced to sell their crops at lesser prices. “The MSP for wheat had been fixed at Rs 1,975 but we are being forced to sell it in the local mandi at Rs 1,500-1,600 and that, too, at a time when diesel prices have increased manifold. We don’t have any option but to destroy our crops,” he said, adding that their expenses are more than what they earn, leaving them to have a hand-to-mouth existence. The video of the farmer driving a tractor over his standing wheat crop in Umraya village of Mathura later went viral on social media. Chhata sub-divisional magistrate Hanuman Prasad said he didn't have any such information, but he appealed to the farmers not to take such steps and instead submit their demands in writing to the administration. “Destroying crops is not good at all,” he said. Bharatiya Kisan Union Mathura district president Raj Kumar Tomar also said that the farmers should not take such steps. “I appeal to the farmers across the district to not take such steps as there is no need for this at the moment,” he said, adding that farmers might have misinterpreted the statement given by Rakesh Tikait. However, farmers in many districts across UP, Haryana and Punjab have already razed their crops. Last month, some farmers in Haryana’s Karnal, Jind and Ambala districts had destroyed their wheat crops close on the heels of BKU leader Rakesh Tikait making an appeal to them at a kisan mahapanchayat held in Hisar district where he had asked them to be ready to sacrifice their standing crops if their demands are not met by the Centre. Similarly, a 50-year-old farmer from Pakki Tibbi village in Punjab’s Muktsar district destroyed his wheat crop on three acres in protest against the three farm laws. Also a farmer in UP’s Bijnor district had destroyed standing wheat crop on his six-bigha farmland last month.

The Times of India

2021-03-02

Agra