UP Farmers To March To Delhi's Kishan Ghat Over Sugarcane Dues, Hiked Diesel Prices

A group of farmers belonging to Western Uttar Pradesh gathered in Noida on Thursday to lodge a protest against hiked electricity rates and to draw attention towards the money from sugarcane sales that government owes to them. Farmers will march to Kishan Ghat on Friday in a continuation of their protest, reports TOI. A group of almost 500 farmers from Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Baghpat had camped in Noida on Wednesday night. 

“If the state government agrees to our demands, we don’t need to go to Delhi. But we need assurance from the government that our demands will be met. There are so many local issues, including 10% plots for farmers and abadi land being destroyed by the authorities in Noida”, TOI quotes Parvinder Yadav, district president of Bhartiya Kisan Sangathan (BKS) as saying.

The farmers, along with their tractors, marched towards Noida’s Transport Nagar leading to traffic congestion in Ghaziabad and Noida. In the wake of farmers’ protest, traffic slowed down between model town and sector 60. 

The farmers demand the formation of a commission on the lines of the Swaminathan committee’s report. Other issues being raised by the farmers include 10 per cent plots, minimum support price of their crops, and reduction in electricity and diesel prices.