Lucknow: Farmers in Barakbanki district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday dumped tonnes of potato yield on roads to protest the inadequate MSP on the crop. The protest comes at a time when farmers from across the country are marching towards national capital demanding higher crop prices, farm loan waivers, implementation of the Swaminathan report, among others.
The farmers alleged that the promises made by the government were not kept and blamed the state government for their poor condition.
Thousands of farmers dumped potatoes on the streets of Barabanki, including the office of District Magistrate. People thronged the streets to collect the strewn potatoes.
Speaking to news18, Mukesh, District President of Bhartiya Kisan Union said, “The promises done to farmers by the state government were not fulfilled. This has angered the farmers. Today we are forced to dump potatoes as they are not getting the required MSP for their crops. Our potatoes are sold for Rs 100 per tonne and we have to pay Rs 250 per tonne for cold storage. Farmers are forced to shell out the extra money from his pocket for storing the produce.”
“The government had declared Rs 484 as MSP per tonne, but where is it? Farmers are in bad condition and on the other hand district administration has kept mum over the issue. The potato from Punjab is adding to our woes, government should immediately ban it also the administration should make some arrangement for storing our potato yield. Even our rice crop is not being sold on MSP declared by the government,” added Mukesh.
Meanwhile, District Magistrate, Barabanki, Uday Bhanu Tripathi denied all the allegations and said, “We are not aware of reason why farmers have dumped potatoes on streets. The members of Kisan Union have not yet informed about their problems on the issue, we will surely try to get the matter resolved soon.”
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