Find a solution before model code of conduct: Farmers to govt
government should accept the demands of farmers before the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections comes into force.
Ahead of the fourth round of meeting between farmers' union leaders and the Centre, farmer union leader Dallewal told reporters at the Shambhu border point, «We want to tell the government that it should avoid dilly-dallying. If the government thinks it will continue to hold meetings till the model code is imposed, and then say it cannot do anything as the code is in force… the farmers are not going to return, he said. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was also present at Sunday's meeting.
A group of Union ministers, including griculture minister Arjun Munda, food minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, held a fresh round of talks with farm leaders on Sunday in Chandigarh over their demands. The two sides had also met on February 8, 12 and 15 but the talks remained inconclusive.
The agitation, which is not sponsored by any political party, reiterated the demand for an ordinance on giving legal guarantee to Minimum Support Price for crops, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, farm debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and justice for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act — 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.
Farm leaders, including
