New Delhi: Farmers' organisations under the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, after a meeting at Singhu border, on Friday said that if the talks with the government on January 4 fail then they will intensify the protest and hold a tractor rally on January 6.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) General Secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal told IANS:
"The topics of the next round of talks with the government were discussed in the meeting. The government has agreed to our two demands, but two important demands are yet to be discussed on January 4. If these two demands are not negotiated during the talks with the government, then a tractor rally will be taken out on January 6."
Friday marked the 37th day of the farmers' protest against the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Production and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020. The farmers are demanding withdrawal of all the three laws, while the government has agreed to amend the laws as per the suggestions of the farmers. The farmers will be taking up the issue during the 6th round of talks with the government.
The leaders of the farmers' organisations also held talks on four issues with the government on Wednesday, of which the government has accepted two demands while the other two, withdrawal of the three laws and legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP), are still to be addressed.
Amid freezing temperatures in Delhi and adjoining areas, a farmer from Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh died near Ghazipur border on Friday while protesting against new agricultural laws enacted by the central government.
The farmer, Galtan Singh (57) was a resident of Bhagwanpur Nagal village in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, said Saurav, an associate of Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, who is leading the farmers from Uttar Pradesh demonstrating at the Ghazipur Border.
Saurav told IANS:
"Galtan Singh was in good health and fit and but he suddenly felt uneasy with complaint of chest pains and was taken to the hospital but he died on the way. The body has been sent to his village."
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader from Uttar Pradesh Sachin Chaudhary, who has been protesting against the three farm laws at Ghazipur border, said:
"Sacrifice of Galtan Singh will not go in vain."
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) has said that there are "blatant efforts" to sabotage its network in the garb of farmers' protest by the channel partners of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
In letters sent to Anshu Prakash, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and P.D. Vaghela, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI, Reliance Jio said that a grave situation has emerged in Punjab and Haryana amid the ongoing farmers' protest.
"As a result of false and frivolous communication that Reliance will be an undue beneficiary of the farm bills passed by Parliament, Jio's telecommunications network is being targeted by the protesters and the same is being disrupted and permanently damaged," Reliance Jio said.
Reliance Jio has asked the TRAI and DoT to take action against Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel for these unethical and unscrupulous practice of their channel partners. It has also demanded that mobile number portability (MNP) process in Punjab and Haryana be suspended for the time being till the situation stabilises.
It said that the gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that there is an outage of 1,504 Jio towers in Punjab which represents 15 per cent of the total number. Similar outages have been reported for 85 Jio towers in Haryana. Reliance Jio said the situation is worsening every hour and it fears that attempts are being made to spread similar situation in more circles.
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