Protesting farmers have announced a nationwide chakka jam on February 6. The event would see nationwide blockage of state highways for three hours as farmers continue their agitation against three contentious bill. The chakka jam has been called in the wake of internet ban in near their agitation sites, including 14 districts of Haryana.
The development was announced by Samyukta Kisan Morcha during a press conference which was called after farmers’ unions meeting.
The meeting involved discussion on arrest and harassment of young farmers by police, no trace of farmers whose tractors were seized during Republic Day, suspension of mobile internet, attacks on farmers at Singhu and Tikri borders, said Balbir Singh Rajewal, SKM leader.
“Farmers coming to join the agitation by trains are also being harassed. We want to protest against all these atrocities and so will do a three-hour chakka jam on February 6 across the nation. These will be on the national and state highways,” he said. “Government has also reduced allocation for the agriculture sector in the budget and we will be protesting against that as well.”
Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav said, “People had hoped that they would keep something for farmers during this budget as it is being announced during the agitation. The government had reduced allocation for agriculture and allied sectors by ₹6,000 crore. In terms of percentage, the reduction in the allocation has been from 5.1% last year to 4.3% this year.”
The farmers have also accused the Centre of ignoring them in the Union Budget 2021-22 that was presented in the parliament on Monday, claiming the government has “reduced the allocation to agriculture sector” in this budget.
The farmers also complained about blocking their Twitter account that was taken down on the “request of government authorities”.
Twitter accounts of Kisam Ekta Morchaa and Tractor2Twitter have also been restricted.
