Narmadapuram farmers, demanding 100% moong procurement and an end to the e-token system, spent the night on the streets after talks with the government collapsed
Nearly two thousand farmers from the Narmadapuram division spent Tuesday night on the streets of Bhopal after police stopped their march near Ampri, triggering a traffic jam on the roads of New Bhopal late into the night. The farmers are pressing for full government procurement of moong (green gram) at minimum support price, an overhaul of the e-token system used for fertiliser distribution, timely fertiliser availability, and benefits under the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme.
The protest march, organised under the banner of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, began in Narmadapuram and pushed through multiple rounds of police barricading en route, including a tense standoff near the Narmada bridge where an emotional farmer reportedly fell at the feet of the local SP, pleading with him to accept their demands. Protesters broke through several barricades and marched on, even singing the national anthem in defiance as heavy police forces were deployed across Narmadapuram, Harda, Itarsi, Doraha, Seoni Malwa and Pipariya.
A meeting between the farmer delegation and state officials, including Agriculture Minister Aidal Singh Kansana, on Tuesday failed to yield a written commitment, prompting farmer leaders to announce that the agitation would continue. With talks inconclusive, the farmers have now planned a “maha-gherao” of the Chief Minister’s residence today. Former CM Kamal Nath has also written to CM Mohan Yadav urging that the moong procurement process be expedited.
In view of the planned gherao, authorities have deployed heavy security around the CM House and key routes leading into the capital, and several schools in the affected areas have announced holidays as a precaution.
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