IT News
Imphal, Aug 07:
Farmers of Kumbi Assembly constituency under Bishnupur district have launched fast-unto-death protests against the government authority’s failure to provide adequate amount of fertilizers. A protest rally was also staged as a part of the protest. A large number of farmers under the aegis of the Kumbi Urban Development Committee (KUDC) , Kumbi Apunba Loumi Sinmee Apunba Lup (KALSAL) and Bharatiya Kishan Sangh (BKS) joined the protest organized at Kumbi Setupur Mayai Leikai.
The protest rally kick-started from Kumbi Setupur and ended at Kumbi Haotak Pat. In the rally placards with slogans urging government authority to render their service for helping the farmers in need were displayed.
Speaking to reporters, a protestor said about the need for recognition to the role of the farmers. He said if farmers fail to produce food what will the people eat to survive. The farmers will be like a living death if the government continues to remain ignorant to the plea of the farmers. He even said that if the farmers don’t produce food, the money that they had will be of no use. They cannot cook the currency note they have.
The fertilizer required for the whole of Bishnupur district is around 60,000 bags and as of today, the government did not even deliver 20,000 bags of fertilizers to the Bishnupur district Agriculture department. If the farmers were not provided adequate fertilizers then how could the farmers produce crops, president of the KUD N. Prakash said and added that the government should not play the farmers’ life.
General Secretary of KALSAL, Wahengbam Jhanajeet Singh said that due to the late monsoon the farmers cultivate the field with extreme hardship and in addition to the government’s inability to make available the required fertilizers, fields are not going to yield proper crops. As the government had failed to make available the required fertilizers, farmers of the area had begun fast-unto-death protest, he added.
7 (seven) people will first undergo the fast-unto-death for the first phase. They are Nongmaithe, Prakash Singh, Wahengbam Jhanajeey Singh, Moirangthem (o) Shanti Devi, Keisham (o) Sanatombi and Haobam (o) Saroja Devi.
