Left Front peasants wings' march on May 22 in Bengal

Kolkata, March 24 : As many as 11 farmers' wings of the Left Front in West Bengal, including CPI-M's peasants' front All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), on Thursday announced that they would march to Nabanna -- the state secretariat -- on May 22 to protest anti-farmers measures.

"Farmers are being deprived of getting minimum support price. State government as well as the Centre should provide soft loans to farmers at 4 per cent interest rate. Both state and Centre failed to provide such arrangement," said peasants' wings Covenor Madan Ghosh.

"We protest Centre's move to withdraw bonus for buying paddy. The government must provide Rs 200 per quintal bonus to paddy sellers," he added.

"We will march to Nabanna on May 22 and prior to that, protest rallies and demonstrations will be organised across districts," Ghosh said.

Peasants' wings have charted a 18-point demand.

"We expect 3.5-4 lakh farmers will assemble for the march," senior AIKS central leader and its West Bengal unit secretary Amal Haldar added.