Bhubaneswar: Farmers’ bodies are conducting a 3-hour ‘chakka jam’ across the State today, between 12 noon and 3 pm.
Several organisations including AITUC, All India Kishan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS), Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union (BKMU) were seen blocking roads and national highways in cities and towns across the State.
According to the available information, the protestors blocked Cuttack-Bhubaneswar NH-16 (Hanspal). To intensify the protest, farmers under the banners of AITUC and BKMU gathered at Master Canteen square.
However, emergency and essential services were exempted from the protest.
Sources said that the NNKS activists staged the ‘Chakka Jam’ stir at about 23 places across the State.
Similarly, the farmers under the banners of Akhil Bharatiya Krushak Sangathan (All India Farmers’ Union) and Communist Party of India (CPI) blocked the NH-16 stretch near Uttareshwar in Soro area under Balasore district.
Following this, hundreds of vehicles were seen stranded on both sides of the national highway.
Thousands of farmers have been demanding the repeal of Centre’s three new farm laws which they believe will dismantle the existing mandi system and end the MSP structure.
The three farm laws are — the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Enacted in September 2020, the laws have been projected by the Central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country. The government has repeatedly assured the farmers that these three laws will not do away with MSP and mandis.
