JAIPUR: The farmers agitating for supply of irrigation water into the Indira Gandhi Canal area took out a rally in Gharsana town of Sriganganagar district on Thursday, the third day of the "Mahapadav" (siege) in the Dan Mandi area. Thousands participated in the rally which ended peacefully amid heavy police presence.

There was some meltdown in the stringent stand taken by the State Government initially with the Divisional Commissioner of Bikaner inviting the representatives of Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti (KMVSS), which is spearheading the agitation, for talks in the evening.

"We will attend the talks but our first demand would be release of KMVSS leaders, Hetram Beniwal and Saibram Punia who are in police custody," said Vasudev, State secretary of the CPI (M), talking to The Hindu on phone from Gharsana. Prof. Vasudev, along with CPI (M) MLA Amra Ram, will be participating in the talks. "An agreement would not be possible without direct participation of these leaders in the talks," Prof. Vasudev said. The two leaders, now kept in jails far away from the area, were signatories to the December 11, 2004 agreement with the Government along with another leader, Vallabh Kocher.

Prof. Vasudev said as many as 1,100 FIRs had been filed against the farmers in connections with the October 10 roadblock in three districts and nearly 50 persons were in police custody. The cases include those filed against persons, including women, for taking 40 policemen hostage in the border village of Sakhi in Sriganganagar on Tuesday.

"Nobody is afraid of FIRs in this area. The turnout at the day's rally is an indication of this. The town is in our custody," Prof. Vasudev said. "Now it appears as if the Commissioner office, the Collectorate and the SP's office are in this tehsil town, inhabited by 50,000 persons," he jokingly said pointing out that all these officials were now camping in the town.

Prof. Vasudev said the farmers were willing for any sacrifice for irrigation water as the area, once the biggest mandi in whole of Asia, had lost its importance as an agricultural town. "Against the arrival of 1.5 lakh bales of cotton once, the mandi is almost empty at present. The traders here say that this year's arrival would not cross 10,000 bales. This is all because of poor supply of irrigation water."

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