Congress to block Agra-Mumbai NH in MP tomorrow:Protests at 7 points over farmers’ issues, senior leaders to be present

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh will hold a major protest on Thursday, May 7. The party plans to block National Highways at seven places across the state. Senior leader and former minister PC Sharma will lead the agitation. In Bhopal on Wednesday, PC Sharma said the government’s wheat procurement system has failed. He said repeated extensions in procurement and slot booking dates have exposed serious problems in the system. He added that in the first 14 days, only 9.30 lakh metric tonnes of wheat were procured. This has caused heavy losses to farmers. Many farmers are facing issues such as slot booking, uploading registration slips and delays in payments. The protest is likely to affect traffic over about 747 kilometres across 11 districts. Congress said the agitation is being held in the interest of farmers. Meanwhile, the administration has started preparing for security and traffic management. Farmers are not getting basic facilities Congress alleges that basic facilities like drinking water, shade, seating, and toilets are not available at the procurement centers. Farmers are forced to wait on roads with their tractor-trolleys for several days.
The situation is such that farmers are compelled to sell wheat to traders at prices ranging from Rs 1800 to Rs 2022 per quintal. Congress’s Demands The party has demanded from the government that farmers should be given a price of Rs 2625 per quintal and the difference for wheat sold at lower prices should be directly deposited into their accounts under the Bhavantar Yojana. Additionally, a response has been sought regarding the prices of moong and soybean. Minister said – Warehouse capacity increased by 20% Madhya Pradesh Food and Civil Supplies Minister Govind Singh Rajput said that all possible efforts are being made by the Chief Minister and the department for wheat procurement. He informed that earlier, permission was granted for the procurement of 78 lakh metric tons of wheat, but considering the increased registration of farmers, it has been increased to 100 lakh metric tons by the central government. The Minister said that the procurement process is running smoothly and so far about 15 lakh slots have been booked. More than 50 lakh metric tons of wheat have also been procured. Rajput said that for the convenience of farmers, weighing scales have been increased and the capacity of warehouses has been increased by up to 20%, so that there is no difficulty in storage. He informed that the Chief Minister himself is conducting surprise inspections and he himself is also visiting various centers. BJP targets Congress – Congressmen don’t even offer a glass of water to any farmer The minister, targeting Congress, said that Congressmen don’t even offer a glass of water to any farmer and are pretending to protest. He said that being in the opposition, Congress is taking such steps, but highway blockades will cause trouble to the general public. Rajput said that blocking roads will affect people’s movement and cause unnecessary difficulties for common citizens. He appealed to Congress to reconsider this. The minister also said that Congress’s position is weak in other states and the party needs to introspect instead of protesting. The BJP state president said that Congress has never cared for the farmers till date. Congress does not even have the right to say this. After our government was formed, we are providing Kisan Samman Nidhi to the farmers. Wheat is being purchased at support price, even though there was a shortage of gunny bags. Jitu Patwari should apologise to the farmers. He should tell what he did for the farmers before 2003-04? Jitu Patwari needs to introspect and self-reflect.