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Medha cautions Punjab, Haryana on farmers
WSN News

New Delhi: Punjab and Haryana governments hell-bent on forcing farmers to sell their lands to industrialists may soon have a new headache. Narmada Bachchao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has warned the agricultural states to protect their farming community, “otherwise the states might find themselves in a state of bigger conflict than Singur in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh”.

“Farmers of Punjab and Haryana are more enterprising, have more courage and know how to make the best use of their land. If the two governments continue to act like middlemen for MNCs and real estate agents without taking farmers’ interests into account, they might have a bigger situation in hand,” the NBA leader said.

She also advised the farmers in the two states to organise themselves, adding that the “Action 2007” plan would include the formation of a common forum for all peoples’ movements in the country, which would also include a national anti-SEZ committee, in March. “We are with them,” she added. Chandigarh's The Tribune newspaper quoted Patkar at length on the growing unrest among farmers of the two states.

“The two states are taking their farmers for granted. It is shameful if farmers in a prosperous state like Punjab start committing suicides. This is happening because either the government in the disguise of MNCs is grabbing agricultural land or farmers are being compelled to sell their land because they are not getting due price for their produce,” she said.

10 January, 2007   
 

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