Farmers seek support price or end to trade with India
PTI endorses their demands, announces task force to prepare a plan for farmers
Protesters spread potatoes on The Mall and blocked it for traffic on Friday. PHOTO: SHAFIQ MALIK/EXPRESS
LAHORE:
Activists of the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) staged a demonstration in front of the Punjab Assembly on Friday to press the provincial government to meet their demands including an end to trade with India in agriculture products.
They said the government must announce a support price for their crops if it could not do so.
They spread potatoes on the road in front of their sit-in camp on The Mall and blocked it for traffic to protest government’s failure to meet their demands. The blockade continued till the filing of this report.
Meanwhile, traffic was diverted to adjoining roads including McLeod Road and Queens’ Road.
Chaudhry Noorul Hassan, the PKI divisional organiser for Multan, demanded that like wheat and sugarcane the government set a support price for other agricultural products too. He said at current prices the farmers could not meet their input costs and were forced to take loans from middlemen at exorbitant interest rates. He said availability of same products imported at cheaper rates from India was keeping them out of the market.
Ehtisham Ahmed, a KPI member from Okara, said the government should announce subsidies for farmers on fertilisers, seeds, and pesticides. Alongside, he said the government should evolve a policy for equitable distribution of irrigation water. He said strict punishments should be meted out to Irrigation Department officials who collude with large landholders in diverting canal water to their fields beyond the sanctioned quantity (under rules and regulations).
The protesters also demanded a subsidy on electricity. They said if the government could not forgo their electricity bill arrears it should let them clear the amount in instalments.
Fateh Muhammad said Indian government had subsidised electricity, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides for the farmers. He said Pakistani farmers could not compete with their Indian counterparts without support from the government. He said trade with India in agricultural products should immediately be stopped.
Earlier, Chief Minsiter Shahbaz Sharif had sent a delegation led by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah to hold negotiations with the farmers. However, the delegation had failed to persuade them to end the protest.
A delegation of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf also visited the protesters and endorsed their demands for an end to trade with India in agricultural products.
Speaking at the occasion, PTI Punjab organiser Chaudhary Mohammad Sarwar asked the government to immediately resolve the problems faced by the protesting farmers.
He said his party had established a taskforce and asked it to evolve a plan in consultation with the farmers for resolution of their problems.
In a statement to the media, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi criticised the government for what he said was a failed agriculture policy. He said the demands of the protesting farmers should immediately be met. He said in order to facilitate farmers his government had provided generous subsidies to the farmers on fertilisers and electricity bills. He said his government had also exempted 12,500 acre and smaller land holdings from some taxes.
The protesters were led by PKI president Khalid Khokhar.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 22nd, 2015.
Activists of the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) staged a demonstration in front of the Punjab Assembly on Friday to press the provincial government to meet their demands including an end to trade with India in agriculture products.
They said the government must announce a support price for their crops if it could not do so.
They spread potatoes on the road in front of their sit-in camp on The Mall and blocked it for traffic to protest government’s failure to meet their demands. The blockade continued till the filing of this report.
Meanwhile, traffic was diverted to adjoining roads including McLeod Road and Queens’ Road.
Chaudhry Noorul Hassan, the PKI divisional organiser for Multan, demanded that like wheat and sugarcane the government set a support price for other agricultural products too. He said at current prices the farmers could not meet their input costs and were forced to take loans from middlemen at exorbitant interest rates. He said availability of same products imported at cheaper rates from India was keeping them out of the market.
Ehtisham Ahmed, a KPI member from Okara, said the government should announce subsidies for farmers on fertilisers, seeds, and pesticides. Alongside, he said the government should evolve a policy for equitable distribution of irrigation water. He said strict punishments should be meted out to Irrigation Department officials who collude with large landholders in diverting canal water to their fields beyond the sanctioned quantity (under rules and regulations).
The protesters also demanded a subsidy on electricity. They said if the government could not forgo their electricity bill arrears it should let them clear the amount in instalments.
Fateh Muhammad said Indian government had subsidised electricity, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides for the farmers. He said Pakistani farmers could not compete with their Indian counterparts without support from the government. He said trade with India in agricultural products should immediately be stopped.
Earlier, Chief Minsiter Shahbaz Sharif had sent a delegation led by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah to hold negotiations with the farmers. However, the delegation had failed to persuade them to end the protest.
A delegation of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf also visited the protesters and endorsed their demands for an end to trade with India in agricultural products.
Speaking at the occasion, PTI Punjab organiser Chaudhary Mohammad Sarwar asked the government to immediately resolve the problems faced by the protesting farmers.
He said his party had established a taskforce and asked it to evolve a plan in consultation with the farmers for resolution of their problems.
In a statement to the media, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi criticised the government for what he said was a failed agriculture policy. He said the demands of the protesting farmers should immediately be met. He said in order to facilitate farmers his government had provided generous subsidies to the farmers on fertilisers and electricity bills. He said his government had also exempted 12,500 acre and smaller land holdings from some taxes.
The protesters were led by PKI president Khalid Khokhar.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 22nd, 2015.