Union Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the next round of meetings with the protesting farmer leaders will be held on February 22. The announcement of the date for the meeting comes hours after a meeting between a central team led by Joshi and farmers’ representatives was held on Friday in Chandigarh. Both sides said the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and the next round of talks will take place on February 22.
“We had a very positive meeting with farmer leaders. They put forth their demands in the meeting. We heard all the demands of the farmer leaders. We apprised them of the decisions taken by the PM Modi-led government in the interest of farmers. A meeting will be held on February 22 under the leadership of Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan,” he said.
The discussion during the meeting which comes after a year-long protest by farmers, centered around the demand of the farmers for a legal guarantee of minimum support price on crops.
While Joshi spoke about the steps taken by the Narendra Modi government for the welfare of the farming community, farmer leaders said they strongly put forth their views backed by facts, to which the central delegation did not have any answer.
Both Joshi and farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal separately spoke to reporters here after the meeting which lasted for over two-and-a-half hours at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration.
Joshi said the meeting, in which farmer representatives of two forums spearheading the agitation at Shambhu and Khanauri border points took part and which was also attended by Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, state Food and Civil Supplies minister Lal Chand Kataruchak and other state government representatives, was held in a cordial atmosphere.
The meeting was held in the backdrop of agitating farmers’ various demands that include a legal guarantee of MSP on crops.
(With agency inputs)