Kalimpong Krishak Kalyan Sangh (KKKS) to meet Chidambaram next month

5 representatives of Kalimpong Krishak Kalyan Sangh (KKKS) will be meeting the Finance Minister, P Chidambaram next month. The above was informed by the KKKS General Secretary, Vishnu Chettri today. During the time of agitation from 2007-11 the farmers had taken loans under a scheme of the Centre. The Sangathan last year had appealed for its relaxation to the then Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, but nothing was done as such. Thus, the banks sent a notice to the farmers regarding the return of the loans, recently. The KKKS say that the farmers could not properly utilize the loan during the time of insurgency.In other hand there are no banks in 31 Gram Panchayats of the hills, because of which the farmers are facing several issues in getting loans under the MGNREGA scheme.During the forthcoming meet, the KKKS will be highlighting all these issues to the Finance Minister. They will also be requesting that the funds for the farmers issued by the Centre should reach directly and properly to the farmers. Crop insurance during the times of calamities will also be put forward.Further, the KKKS will also be putting forward the issues of the farmers to the Agriculture Minister of the Centre on January 2013, it has been informed. Apart from these they will also be demanding the Centre for the Panchayat election in the hills. other pending issues such as the relaxation in the electricity and telephone bills, issues related to tea gardens and cinchona, khasmal, small scale farmers, etc. will also be highlighted.

By Mukesh Sharma.