Shimla, Mar 8
A Joint Kisan Manch meeting was organized in Shimla under the chairmanship of Harish Chauhan. Briefing about the same in a media communique they stated that a 15-point demand letter was discussed in the meeting and concerns were expressed especially over the steep increase and decrease in the prices of fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides and other item costs in the state.
The government is not taking any steps to overcome the problems of farmers and horticulturists and the Joint Kisan Manch has been raising the demands of farmers and gardeners for a long time, but no attention to the problems of the farmers is being witnessed, stated the Kissan manch.
Criticizing the budget they added that the government has not given any scheme and provision for the benefit of farmers and horticulturists and even the assistance and subsidies that used to be provided to farmers and gardeners have been ended. Adding, due to which farmers and gardeners are being forced to buy expensive fertilizers, seeds, insecticides, fungicides and other costly items from the open market.
They said that today the prices of fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides and other cost items have been increased by 40 to 100 per cent. The price of a bag of manure which was available for Rs 850 has been increased to Rs 1740 this year. Along with this, fertilizer is also not available in most parts of the state. Due to this, especially for small, marginal and poor farmers, there has been a shortage. It was demanded in the meeting that the government should immediately make fertilizers available according to the demand and restore the subsidy given through the Department of Agriculture and Horticulture and reduce the prices of fertilizers. With this, a demand was made to immediately make the pending payment of about Rs 65 crore of the Mandi Intervention Scheme (MIS) with HPMC and HIMFED of the horticulturists.
Harish Chauhan informed that it was decided in this meeting that on March 28, 2022, demonstrations would be held at block, tehsil and sub-division levels across the state regarding their demands and the demand letter would be sent to the government. They stated that the Joint Kisan Manch has given a 15-point demand letter to the government several times after August 2021, but the government has not paid any attention to it. Representatives of about 13 organizations participated in this meeting.
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