Farmers' agitation: Protesters announce 3-hour nationwide 'chakka jam' on Feb 6

Farmer unions Monday announced a countrywide chakka jam on February 6 when they would block national and state highways for three hours in protest against the Internet ban in areas near their agitation sites harassment allegedly meted out to them by authorities and other issuesUnion leaders told a press conference at the Singhu Border on the Haryana side that they will block the roads between 12 pm to 3 pm on February 6They also alleged that farmers have been ignored in the Union Budget 202122 and water and power supply have been curtailed and mobile toilet blocks being removed at their protest venuesThe Samkyukt Kisan Morcha SKM an umbrella body of protesting unions also alleged that the Twitter accounts of Kisan Ekta Morcha and a user named Tractor2Twitter have been restrictedSwaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav alleged the action against the Twitter account was taken on the request of government authorities adding accounts of some private individuals who have been very vocal against the movement have also been restrictedHe also claimed that the Union government has reduced the allocation to agriculture sector in this budgetBalbir Singh Rajewal a farmer leader from Punjab and part of the SKM told reporters that the modalities of the Chakka Jam on February 6 will be decided after discussing it with various unions unanimously including those protesting at Ghazipur border site the new focal point of the farmers movement against the new farm lawsRajewal claimed during the press conference that scores of people have been detained by the police besides FIRs filed against many including a journalistOur February 6 protest would also be against this harassment faced by journalists who are trying to report the truth from the ground and the Twitter restrictions he saidSwaraj Abhiyans Yadav alleged that the Union government has reduced the allocation to agriculture sector in this years budget And even percentage of allocation has gone down from 51 pc last fiscal to 43 pc this yearHe asserted that mahapanchayats are happening in the country while the government is trying to have its wayThese mahapanchayats will dismantle the arrogance of the government and the agitation will destroy the shrewdness of the central government Yadav saidAsserting that the government is committed towards farmers welfare Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday proposed 10 per cent hike in the farm loan disbursal target to Rs 165 lakh crore and introduced an agri infra and development cess of up to 100 per cent to create postharvest infrastructure for improving farmers incomeThe minister also proposed higher allocation for Rural Infrastructure Development Fund and Micro Irrigation Fund and extended Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to APMCs for augmenting infrastructure facilitiesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever