Farmers will stop food supply to major cities

New Delhi: An umbrella body of 110 farmers’ organisations has said that it would not supply farm products such as vegetables, grains and milk to cities across the country for 10 days from June 1 in protest against the policies of the Centre.

The Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, which has as one of its chief patrons rebel BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, further declared on Monday that a nationwide “Bharat Bandh” would be held on June 10 till 2 pm.

“Farmers would stop sending from villages to cities produce such as crops, vegetables and milk from June 1 to June 10 all over the country. On June 6 they would observe a non-cooperation day,” the group’s leaders, including former BJP minister Mr Sinha, told the media here.

The leaders claimed that though the Centre had promised a minimum support price (MSP) that was to be 50 per cent higher than the cost of production, farmers were yet to receive the higher prices. The organisations demanded that the MSP be increased to the cost of production. “We have been demanding that MSP be 1.5 times the entire cost of production, including the cost of land. Though the government had declared it in their last budget there is no specifications and it is not going to help us,” said Shiv Kumar Kakka, a farmer leader from Madhya Pradesh. Lambasting the government for making false promises, Mr Yashwant Sinha congratulated the farmers’ long march in Maharshtra led by Left parties last month.

“I can say that the Modi government has done nothing for them, not even fulfilled the promises written in the BJP manifesto,” he said.