Farmer Stir: Another group of farmers extend support to new Agri laws after meeting Tomar

NEW DELHI: As farmers’ protest against the three new agri laws continues, one more delegation of farmers, led by All India Kisan Coordination Committee (AIKCC), met agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday to increase their support to the contentious legislation.

The AIKCC, which has presence in 28 states, submitted a representation to the Agriculture Minister seeking continuation of the three farm laws with some amendments. Farmers delegation taking off after a meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Thursday.

This is a fourth group of farmers to possess extended their support to the laws in the past fortnight .

Led by its General Secretary Gunavath Patil Hangergekar, the AIKCC, which has presence in 28 states, submitted a representation to the Agriculture Minister seeking continuation of the three farm laws, though with some amendments.

The previous groups were from Haryana and Uttarakhand “We need to see the sunshine of those laws after many years of struggle. We are aware that farmers protesting at Delhi borders are misled by some forces. we don’t want such forces to take away the liberty the laws aim to give to farmers across the country,” Patil said.

Some amendments concerning dispute resolutions are required to protect the interest of farmers, otherwise the laws in general are in favour of the farming community, he said.

“We want the govt to set up a tribunal to fast-track dispute resolutions if an agreement between two parties are violated.

It is because sub-divisional magistrates and deputy commissioners don’t have time, and civil courts take long time to settle the case,” Patil said.

Patil, a former president of Shetkari Sanghatan of Maharashtra, said that Sharad Pawar, the NCP chief and Agriculture Minister during the UPA tenure, who had pushed these reforms “should not have opposed” these laws.