MP 'chakka jam': Farm outfits, Congress workers block roads

Farm outfits and Congress workersin Madhya Pradesh took part in the 'chakka jam' (roadblockade) stir called by various groups in protest against theCentre's new agri marketing laws and blocked roads at variousplaces, leading to traffic snarls.

They blocked national highway number 12, going pastcapital Bhopal, for two hours.

Senior MP Congress leader PC Sharma said his partycolleagues took part in such protests across the state.

''The Centre should withdraw these black laws whichallow the entry of corporates in the farm sector,'' Sharma toldPTI.

In Guna, the protest, at Bilonia bypass on Agra-MumbaiRoad, was led by party veteran Digvijaya Singh.

''The new laws will destroy mandis, rendering peopleworking there jobless,'' he said.

In Gwalior, protesters blocked roads in Badagaon,Rayru and Mohna, while the site of the demonstration in Mhowwas Dreamland Square.

Meanwhile, MP agriculture minister Kamal Patel saidthe Congress and Communist parties were misleading farmers.

''These parties and middlemen do not want the country'sfarmers to become self-reliant,'' he said, and added that theminimum support price mechanism would continue even with theintroduction of the new laws.

Thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi'sborders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh demanding the rollbackof the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm ServicesAct, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The protesting farmers have expressed apprehensionthat these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of theminimum support price system, leaving them at the mercy of bigcorporations.

However, the government has maintained that the lawswill ensure better opportunities for farmers and bring in newtechnologies in agriculture.