Farmers to protest outside HP Assembly on April three

Shimla, Mar 18 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh farmers have decided to hold a rally outside the State Assembly here on April three in protest against the government's failure to initiate steps and prevent losses to their crops by wild animals.

''To attract the government's attention towards the plight of the farmers of the state, the farmers under the banner of Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti are organising a rally here on April three,'' Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti's state treasurer Satyawan Pundir told UNI here.

He said farmers from across the state would participate in the rally to demand amendments in the Wildlife Act and allow the export of monkeys to other countries.

''The farmers are demanding right to protect their crops from wild animals by amending the Wildlife Act and allowing the killing of wild animals by declaring them vermin,'' he said.

Mr Pundir said the farmers of the state are demanding cash compensation for the losses to their crops by the wild animals on the lines being provided to the farmers whose crops are damaged due to natural calamities after revising the relief manual recently.

The wild animals, especially monkeys, pigs and blue bull, cause an estimated loss of Rs 375 crore of agricultural and horticultural produce in the state every year, he said.

He said according to their information, over 2,300 villages of the state were the most affected and in majority of these villages the farmers have stopped growing crops due to the menace.

The protest rally was being held at the behest of Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti and members of Jan Vigyan Samiti, Himachal Kissan Sabha, Bharatiya Kissan Sabha, Fal Utpadak Sangh, Sunni Bhaggi Kisan Sabha, Arki Kisan Sabha and several other organisations were likely to participate in it, he added.

UNI