BARPETA, June 18 - The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, Barpeta district committee has demanded adequate compensation to farmers who suffered heavy losses due to chaffy crops, and arrest of traders who supplied spurious seeds and also a ban on outsider suppliers dealing with such seeds.
A group of KMSS activists gathered in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Saturday morning and demonstrated in support of their demands. They shouted slogans against the Agriculture Minister of the State in particular and the State Government in general.
Leaders of the organistation, Niranjan Roy and Dandinath Barman while addressing the gathering blamed the Government for its anti-farmer stand and failure to compensate the poor farmers for their heavy and irreparable losses.
Talking to mediapersons at the venue of the demonstration, Hussain Muhammad Sahjahan, convenor of the Ganamukti Sangram Samiti alleged that the Agriculture Minister and the administration have established an unholy relationship with clever businessmen responsible for such a situation of the farmers and hence taken a soft stand towards them. He claimed that an amount of Rs 22,000 is required to cultivate a bigha of paddy and the Government should pay at least this amount as compensation.
The organisation submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner narrating the entire incident. They stated that APC 837 variety of paddy, the cultivation of which has led to the misery of farmers in the district was supplied by Advanta company. It was marketed by Krishi Kalyan Beej Bhandar, a Barpetaroad-based seed retailer. They demanded stern action against both of them.
