To question political parties, farmers in Abohar to hold ‘kisan sansad’ on October 1

Fed up with politicians for not giving them time, farmers have now decided to hold their own ‘kisan sansad’ on October 1 in Abohar to seek answers. They have also invited politicians from AAP, Congress, SAD and even BJP to answer their queries. Sukhmander Singh, president of BKU Rajewal in Fazilka district, said that the ‘kisan sansad’ will be organised under the banner of BKU Rajewal.

“We are suffering from canal water shortage and we have been raising this issue since long now. In addition to this, we also want to know the marketing plans of political parties for our kinnow crop and several other things. So we have decided to invite leaders of all political parties to answer us. Hopefully, they will visit the villages to listen to our grievances,” he said. The farmers said that they will be inviting agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, BJP state president Sunil Jakhar, Congress state president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal.

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Earlier, five farmer unions had organised an all-party meeting in Chandigarh in the first week of September to know the stand of political parties on river water issues. However, representatives of SAD and BJP didn’t turn up for the meeting. Darshan Singh, a local farmer from Abohar, said, “This monsoon while many border villages of Fazilka and Jalalabad were flooded, villages in Abohar faced drought-like conditions. Our cotton crop has been affected because of this. However, as we are not getting any solution to our problem. We have no choice but to question the politicians. It’s no doubt that the ruling party is responsible but we have called the politicians from rival parties as well as these problems are of the past too.”

They will discuss issues of marketing of kinnow, spurious seeds, sprays, pending compensation of crop damaged last year, among other things. Sukhmander added that he hopes that more farmers organise such meetings in their villages as well.