Farmers Movement Archive

Haryana deputy CM Chautala condemns Singhu murder

Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala on Saturday said that the murder of a 40-year-old Dalit man on the Singhu border was a “reprehensible incident and must be condemned by everyone”.He said that farmer leaders present at the Singhu border cannot absolve themselves of responsibilities for the ghastly murder. There are 40 leaders from different farmer organisations who are spearheading these farm protests and they must take responsibility for the things that happened at the dharna sthal as the people are sitting there on their call, Chautala said.Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who spoke at the Apparel House later in the day, also said that the “farm leaders at the Singhu border should completely distance themselves from such elements, if they want to clear their role in such incidents”.Meanwhile, both Khattar and Chautala have expressed confidence that they will win the bypoll being held in Ellenabad being held on October 31.The Congress on Saturday, however, said that it is heading for a victory in the Ellenabad bypoll election. Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was also in the city, said that the “Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janata Party (BJP-JJP) government has done nothing except scams, and harassed farmers and general public in its two-year tenure”.“The coalition government has proved to be a failure on every front as every section of the state is troubled by this government... Today, the farmers are neither getting a proper rate for paddy nor the MSP is being given for millet. Millet with an MSP of ₹2,250 quintal is given at a rate between ₹800 and ₹1,000. Even after adding ₹600 to the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana, the farmers are facing a loss of ₹600 per quintal,” Hooda said.Refuting the allegations, CM Khattar said, “The Opposition can say whatever it wants, but we are the ones who discuss real issues. In Haryana, we have done a lot of work in the past seven years. New schemes have been made for the needy, and efforts are being made to increase the income of the farmers. Plans have been made for smooth procurement of crops in the mandis. Farmers are being paid in time, and compensation is being given in case of crop damage.”Chautala on Saturday was speaking on the sidelines of an event to inaugurate the new office -- with a capacity to seat 650 officials -- of the excise and taxation department in Gurugram. He said that the new office was designed on corporate lines and it will allow the entire excise department to work under a single roof. “This facility will enable the department to serve the people and businessmen in an efficient manner,” he said, adding that the office was constructed at a cost of ₹45 crore, and has been developed as an energy efficient structure.

Hindustan Times

16-10-2021

Gurugram