Protest demonstration: Farmers demand subsidies
Threaten to organise a long march if demands not met.
Threaten to organise a long march if demands not met. PHOTO: FILE
MULTAN:
Thousands of farmers from across the Punjab on Sunday staged a protest demonstration in Khanewal against the government for not providing them agricultural subsidies.
Pakistan Kisan Ittehad President Chaudhry Anwar told The Express Tribune there were over three million tube-wells in the country.
He said from 1997 to 2007, former president Pervez Musharraf had provided farmers electricity at Rs3 per unit.
“In 2008 the government raised it to Rs12 per unit… now the rate has gone further up… to Rs15 for a unit.”
Anwar said the farmers had decided that they would not pay their loans to Agriculture Development Bank.
He said they would also organise a long march if their demands were not met by the end of January.
The protestors came from Multan, Vehari, Lodhran, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Okara, Patoki, Bhakkar, Khushab, Mianwali, Sargodha, Layyah, Muzaffarhgarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan.
They blocked the National Highway and demanded that the government immediately grant subsidies and fix high supporting prices of crops for small farmers.
One of the protestors said the cost of a tractor in 2004 was Rs200,000 and a mound of maize costed Rs800. “Today the price of a tractor is almost Rs900,000 and the price of maize has gone up to Rs800,” he said.
“Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had said that they would give agricultural cards to farmers but no initiative has been taken so far.”
Sources in Pakistan Kisan Ittehad told The Express Tribune that farmers in the country owed as much as Rs40 billion in utility.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2014.
Thousands of farmers from across the Punjab on Sunday staged a protest demonstration in Khanewal against the government for not providing them agricultural subsidies.
Pakistan Kisan Ittehad President Chaudhry Anwar told The Express Tribune there were over three million tube-wells in the country.
He said from 1997 to 2007, former president Pervez Musharraf had provided farmers electricity at Rs3 per unit.
“In 2008 the government raised it to Rs12 per unit… now the rate has gone further up… to Rs15 for a unit.”
Anwar said the farmers had decided that they would not pay their loans to Agriculture Development Bank.
He said they would also organise a long march if their demands were not met by the end of January.
The protestors came from Multan, Vehari, Lodhran, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Okara, Patoki, Bhakkar, Khushab, Mianwali, Sargodha, Layyah, Muzaffarhgarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan.
They blocked the National Highway and demanded that the government immediately grant subsidies and fix high supporting prices of crops for small farmers.
One of the protestors said the cost of a tractor in 2004 was Rs200,000 and a mound of maize costed Rs800. “Today the price of a tractor is almost Rs900,000 and the price of maize has gone up to Rs800,” he said.
“Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had said that they would give agricultural cards to farmers but no initiative has been taken so far.”
Sources in Pakistan Kisan Ittehad told The Express Tribune that farmers in the country owed as much as Rs40 billion in utility.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2014.