Farmers to stage dharna today

CHANDIGARH, July 26: The Haryana Krishak Samaj will stage a dharna with 1,001 farmer leaders outside the State Vidhan Sabha tomorrow, to draw the attention of the State government towards suicides by debt-ridden farmers and farm labourers.

Disclosing this here today, Haryana Krishak Samaj president and Rajya Sabha MP S. S. Surjewala said that the state authorities had not given due attention to cash-starved farmers, who were faced with the problem of rising indebtedness. “In fact, a large number of them commmitted suicide due to failure of all the major crops in the last three years, sale of spurious seeds and pesticides, diminishing land holdings and perpetual increase in input costs,” he pointed out.

Surjewala said the problem of debt had acquired alarming proportions, creating a situation of extreme social strife and disharmony in rural Haryana.

Last month, he had released a detailed list of farmers who were driven to the extreme step by indebtedness. The Krishak Samaj has been seeking compensation for such farmers.