No data on farmers who died, so no compensation: Govt
Darpan News Desk IANS, 30 Nov, 2021 12:12 PM
New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) The government on Tuesday said it has no data pertaining to either cases against or the number of farmers who died during the year-long agitation demanding repeal of the three contentious farm laws and hence there was no question of providing financial assistance to anyone.
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said this in reply to questions on 'Agitation of Farm Laws' raised by a bunch of MPs in the Lok Sabha.
Among other questions, the MPs had sought to know the number of cases registered against farmers in connection with the agitation; the data on the number of farmers who died during the agitation held in and around the National Capital; and whether the government proposes to provide financial assistance to the kin of farmers who died during the said agitation.
The Ministry's curt reply was that it has no record on the matter and hence the question of providing financial assistance does not arise.
In earlier part of this unstarred question, the reply had detailed how the government had held 11 rounds of discussions with the farm leaders to dissolve the situation and also listed a number of steps that it has taken to the question about "whether the Government proposes to protect farmers' interests and implement support price for agricultural produce."
Apart from the main demand of repeal of the three contentious laws - that have now been officially repealed by the Parliament - more than a year-long agitation has demanded withdrawal of cases against the farmers during the time of the agitation and paying compensation to and rehabilitation of the families of the martyred farmers, who lost their lives during the same time.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha that has spearheaded the agitation has claimed that about 700 farmers have lost their lives during the agitation since last year.
Chidambaram was addressing a press conference at the fag-end of his two-day visit to the state in the capacity as the All India Congress Committee's senior observer in charge of Goa ahead of the 2022 state assembly polls.
Punjab annually generates 20 million tonnes of paddy straw and this is normally set on fire to quickly clear the fields for the next crop, resulting in choking of the National Capital Region (NCR) in October and November.
Priyanka's remarks came after farmers on Tuesday evening vacated the railway tracks and highways in Punjab after the Amarinder Singh government accepted the demands of the sugarcane farmers.
The 'rebel' legislators reached Dehradun in the morning to apprise Rawat about the mood of the public against the Amarinder Singh-led government in the state. They, among 20-odd party legislators, have been demanding replacement of Amarinder Singh as he failed to fulfill the 2017 poll promises.
Rao also slammed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for raking up 10-year-old allegations related to the mining scam in an attempt to put Congress leaders in the dock in pollbound Goa.
According to the customs department, one male passenger aged 27 years, flew in from Dubai by Emirates flight EK-544 was intercepted at exit gate and his baggage which were found to be unusually heavy were subjected for detailed examination.
