Satna: Over 200 farmers from Madhya Pradesh's Satna district have written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking his permission to end their lives over the constant delay in disbursement of compensation and the administration's alleged strong-arm tactics against them.
The farmers, affiliated to the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdur Mahasangh (RKMM), belong to over a dozen villages under Maihar and Ramnagar tehsil in Satna district, nearly 450 km from Bhopal.
Subhash Pandey, one of the farmers, said that cables being laid in the district for the Jabalpur-Vindhyachal power line pass through their farms, but they have not been offered any compensation for the losses incurred in violation of the rules.
“The company is not following government guidelines and has not offered any compensation for the supply lines laid down in our region till now,” the farmers said in the letter.
They alleged in the letter that the company has instead threatened them that they will be implicated in false cases if they press for compensation. The letter addressed to the President was handed over to the District Collectorate on Tuesday.
The farmers alleged that the district head of RKMM, Mhan Swarup, was recently arrested under Section 151 of CrPC, but his only crime was to demand for compensation when work started on his land.
Following Swarup's arrest, farmers led by the RKMM national president, Shivkumar Sharma, had taken out a rally, after which the administration assured that a committee would be formed to address their complaints.
However, the farmers said that nothing has happened yet. “In the last couple of years, we ran from pillar to post to get our voices heard, but to no avail, so now we were forced to write this letter to the President, seeking permission to end our lives,” the farmers said in the letter.
Shivkumar Sharma or ‘Kakkaji’ while talking to News18, claimed that the administration has remained impartial and erratic in disbursement of compensation in Satna. “We won’t allow the company to function unless justified compensation is doled out to affected farmers," said Sharma.
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