MP ryots' demands include bills' waiver

Bhopal, Feb 19 (UNI) On the eve of the Kisan Mahapanchayat scheduled here, Bharatiya Janata Party-affiliated farmers' organisations today demanded waiver of peasants' power bills, 12 hours' power supply to villages, reduction in interest rate on farm loans and other concessions.

The BJP Kisan Morcha state President Vedprakash Sharma and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh Secretary (Organisation) Prabhakar Kelkar submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the latter's residence this evening. Among those present were Agriculture Minister Gopal Bhargav and Water Resources Minister Anup Mishra, official sources said.

The organisations demanded postponement of loan recovery in drought-affected areas, a single-window system for farm loans, doing away with an annual charge of Rs 500 per horse power and dropping of ''trumped up'' cases against ryots.

The memo also urged a separate agriculture budget, doing away with compulsory crop insurance, amendment of the Sugarcane Policy 2007 and compensation of at least Rs 20,000 per hectare for crop damaged by natural calamities.

UNI PKJ-AC 2145