New Delhi: Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) Friday extended support to Odisha farmers who are boycotting prepaid smart metres and the privatisation of electricity distribution that has been handed over to Tata Power.
The organisation said Tata Power was installing prepaid smart metres against the agreement made by the Narendra Modi government December 9, 2020, under which a discussion was to be held with SKM before the enactment of the Electricity Privatisation Bill.
“SKM has demanded 300 units of free electricity per month to the families engaged in farming,” it said in a statement.
The SKM said more than 15,000 farmers from Bargarh district of Western Odisha protested against the smart metres and voluntarily removed them from their homes and farms and piled them up in the office of Tata Power in Padmapur and other blocks.
Smart Metre boycott has become a widespread movement in Bargarh and surrounding districts of Western Odisha.
“SKM strongly condemns the suppression of the peaceful movement of farmers against privatisation of the power sector by the BJP government of Odisha led by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. The BJP that has come to power for the first time in Odisha has adopted a repressive approach towards this movement,” it said.
SKM also said farmer leader Ramesh Mohapatra was called a “habitual offender” in an official notice.
“It should be noted that the only FIRs registered against him by the police are in the cases of farmers voluntarily boycotting smart metres,” the SKM said.
A petition has been filed in the Cuttack High Court to get the notice quashed, it said.
“The court has issued notice to the Odisha government. Bargarh District Bar Association and Cuttack High Court Bar Association are supporting the farmers’ movement. SKM demands CM to immediately withdraw all the false cases filed against farmer leader Ramesh Mohapatra and other activists and start a discussion with the farmers agitating for their just cause,” it said.
SKM said the privatisation of electricity has become another tool to exploit the farmers and the public in general.
It also asked Modi to keep the promise he made in December 2020 – when the farmers’ protest at Delhi’s border was suspended — to hold a discussion with SKM on the electricity privatisation bill.
“PM must immediately initiate discussions with the agitating farmers instead of recourse to suppress the peaceful struggles,” the farmers’ collective said.
On November 8 this year, a ‘Krishak Garjan Samavesh’ was organised by the ‘Sanyukt Krishak Sangathan’ in Padampur, West Odisha. P Krishnaprasad, Aflatoon and Rajendra Chaudhury attended the public meeting as SKM representatives.
“SKM appeals to farmers protesting against privatisation of electricity across India to join the joint worker-farmer protest on 26 November 2024 in districts called by SKM and JPCTU,” the body said.
PTI