Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held talks with a 28-member farmers’ delegation in Chandigarh. Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Pralhad Joshi, and Punjab Cabinet ministers Harpal Singh Cheema, Gurmeet Singh Khuddian and Lal Chand Kataruchak were also present. The farmers are camping at the Shambhu and the Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 last year, after security forces did not allow them to march to Delhi to press for their various demands. They are seeking a legal guarantee on MSP, a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariffs, withdrawal of police cases and \”justice\” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act 2013 and compensation to the families of farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands. Another round of meeting is scheduled to be held on March 19.
