Stop Dilly-dallying, Accept Farmers' Demands: Farmer Leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal Tells Centre

Thousands of farmers from around 100 villages of Noida and Greater Noida took to the streets, bringing traffic to a standstill in several parts of Delhi-NCR. (Image: PTI)

The central government should not dilly-dally and accept the demands of farmers before the model code of conduct comes into force, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said ahead of a meeting with a panel of Union ministers here on Sunday. The Lok Sabha elections be announced next month.

Three Union ministers and farmer leaders will meet here at 6 pm to discuss their demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP for crops and farm debt waiver.

The meeting comes amid thousands of farmers staying put at the Shambhu and Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border with layers of barricades and a large number of security personnel halting their protest march to the national capital.

The two sides — ministers and farmer leaders — had met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but talks remained inconclusive. “We want to tell the government that it should avoid the policy of dilly-dallying,” Dallewal told reporters at the Shambhu border point.

“If the government thinks it will continue to hold meetings till the code of conduct is imposed, and then say it cannot do anything as the code is in force…farmers are not going to return”, he said. “The government should find a solution to our demands before the code of conduct comes into force,” Dallewal said.

Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai will be part of the meeting with farmer leaders.

Farmers of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ agitation, which entered is sixth day on Sunday, are also demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, and withdrawal of police cases.