UP: Upset Over Rising Input Costs, Potato Farmers Protest Against 'Arbitrary Toll Fares"

Lucknow: Farmers intensified their protest at several toll plazas on Saturday, including Yamuna Expressway and Lucknow Expressway, against the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government for charging “arbitrary toll plaza fares” from potato growers in the state. 

The farmers, led by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) blocked the Khandauli toll plaza near Yamuna Expressway by squatting on the road. The blockade prevented traffic movement from Agra to Delhi. The situation at the other toll plazas on the Lucknow Expressway was reportedly similar. 

The group of farmers also made an attempt to block the traffic near Etawah in Western UP but were dispersed by the police. 

The call for holding protests at 10 toll plazas in the state for a month beginning Thursday was given by BKU, to put pressure on the state government to accept their demands, including to fixed toll fare for potato farmers, Kisan Samman Nidhi, withdrawal of “unfair rate hike” by cold storage owners and remunerative prices for their crops. 

Raj Kumar Tomar, Agra divisional president of BKU, told NewsClick: "We have been seeking an appointment with the commissioner for the past six months so that we can discuss our problems, but he is not giving us time. This forced us to sit on agitation to draw the government’s attention to our plight."

When asked about the problems of farmers, Tomar said, "The government is not paying attention towards potato growers due to which they are being exploited by everyone. Arbitrary fare is taken from the farmers at toll plazas, ranging from Rs 150-200. We are not getting any help from the government. On top of that, this arbitrary toll fare is increasing the burden on potato farmers."

Shyam Singh Chahar, a farmer leader in Agra, who took part in the protest, told NewsClick, "Potato prices fall drastically in two-three years while the input cost is increasing every year. The farmers are not being able to earn a single rupee’s profit. Now an arbitrary toll is being collected from them, so they will definitely hit the road."

The agitating farmers warned of statewide protests if the government did not pay heed to their demands within a week. 

"Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi says that farmers are annadatas and soul of our nation, but he cannot see how we are being exploited and harassed by the toll plaza owners, while MPs and MLAs are exempted from paying toll on national highways. We go to the cold storage with our potatoes where we have to pass a toll plaza for which we pay whatever the recipient there asks us to. After that, the cold storage, too, charges an arbitrary amount to keep our there," another farmer Ajit Rathi told NewsClick. 

Potato farmers are staring at a huge loss as prices have crashed to half from a year earlier amid a glut in production in the state, as NewsClick reported earlier. 

Potato growers in Etawah, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Chhibramau and Auraiya says their produce is sold for Rs 470-510/quintal, even less than the minimum price announced by the state government. Farmers said they could not even earn the input cost of around Rs 1,200-1,400/quintal, depending upon the quality of the potatoes.

Last week, potato farmers from Kannauj to Agra held protests under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) in different parts of the Western region, demanding withdrawal of the “unfair rate hike” by cold storage owners.

They alleged that cold storage owners were harassing them by increasing rates by up to Rs 60 per quintal.