Other States - Rajasthan   

Farmers' siege continues; talks inconclusive

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR: The indefinite "padaav'' (siege) of the farmers, demanding a rollback in the power tariff hike, entered the fourth day here on Sunday with no early solution to the issue in sight even after the first round of talks between the Rajasthan Government and the representatives of farmers on Saturday evening ended on a positive note. A 12-point charter of demands of farmers has since been sent to the Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje.

The distraught farmers from a dozen districts are demanding withdrawal of the power tariff hike, 12-hour power supply, water for irrigation in the phase I area of the Indira Gandhi Canal and release of their leaders arrested during their recent agitation in northern parts of the State. The senior Government officials informed the farmers' leaders during the negotiations that power rates in Rajasthan were already lower than those in many other States and there was presently a shortage in the power supply due to heavy pressure on the Northern Grid. The CPI (M) MLA, Amra Ram, who represented farmers in the talks, said no common ground for reaching an agreement had evolved so far.

The farmers' leaders, addressing the huge gathering at the Ambedkar Circle grounds here, announced that the "padaav'' would continue until all the demands were met. The Kisan Sabha general secretary, Duli Chand, said it was the State Government's responsibility to save the farmers' crops in view of paucity of both power and water.

The trade unions, Students' Federation of India (SFI) and Rajasthan Kisan Parishad have extended their support to the agitation, while the farmers have urged the Opposition Congress to come out with its backing for their cause. The State unit of Samta Party has demanded that an all-party meeting be convened to thrash out the issue.

However, the Chairman of the Rajasthan Vidyut Vitaran Nigam, Srimat Pandey, said in a statement that nearly 60-crore units of electricity, being made available everyday to the agricultural consumers, was much higher than the power supply during the last year. He said the Nigam was supplying power to farmers for five hours in a block per day despite a huge gap between the demand and supply.

Meanwhile, police resorted to lathicharge to disperse a crowd of farmers at Napasar in Bikaner district on Saturday night, when they were trying to stop trains after a demonstration at the local power supply station.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Farmers' siege continues; talks inconclusive

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu