Sarabjit Singh Bhangu/Gurnam Singh Chauhan
Patiala/Patdar, 18 January
The central government has invited the farmers for dialogue in view of the deteriorating condition of the farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on a death fast for the last 54 days for the legal guarantee of MSP on Shambhu and Khanuri borders and other demands. This conversation will be held on February 14 at 5 pm at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MAGSIPA) in Sector 26, Chandigarh. Priya Ranjan, Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Agriculture, made the above announcement today after a five-hour long meeting with farmers’ leaders at the Khanuri border. Senior administrative and police officers of the Punjab government were also present in the meeting.
After reaching an agreement with the Centre, 122 farmers, including farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who are on a death fast, have been urged to break their fast immediately. Union Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary Priya Ranjan (IFS) and some other officials met Dallewal and urged him to get immediate treatment. The round of meetings between central officials and farmers lasted for about five hours. In the meeting, retired ADGP Jaskaran Singh, retired DIG Narendra Bhargava along with DIG Mandeep Sidhu, DC Dr. Preeti Yadav and SSP Dr. Nanak Singh was present. Kaka Singh Kotra, Abhimanyu Kohar, Jaswinder Longowal, Sarwan Pandher, Lakhwinder Aulakh, Sukhjit Hardojhande and Inderjit Kotbudhe were present in the meeting.
The farmers discussed the negotiation proposal received from the central government, after which they agreed for the meeting on February 14. Farmers had earlier expressed fear that the Center might not consider their demands by breaking the death fast of Dallewal and other farmers. After being assured by the officials, the farmers agreed to talk. Farmer leader Abhimannyu Kohar and other leaders said that Dallewal has been informed about the meeting proposal sent by the Center and they will take a decision on breaking the fast. He said that a meeting has been called tomorrow to open the death fast of 121 other farmers who are on death fast. He said that if Dallewal does not agree to open the death fast, then all the farmers will sit on death fast.
