Home News West UP farmers up in arms against crackdown on old tractors

West UP farmers up in arms against crackdown on old tractors

Date:Feb11, 2019
Muzaffarnagar: “Do they even know what a tractor means to a farmer?” asked Dharmendra Gujjar, a sugarcane farmer whose 12-year-old tractor was impounded by RTO officials in Muzaffarnagar on Saturday morning during the ongoing crackdown against old vehicles.

Endorsing the NGT’s 2015 ruling, the Supreme Court on Monday imposed a blanket ban on 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles in Delhi-NCR, a decision which will have a significant impact on western UP farmers.

The respite was brief, as “severe” air pollution in Delhi prompted the apex court to intervene and impose a ban on old vehicles.
The respite was brief, as “severe” air pollution in Delhi prompted the apex court to intervene and impose a ban on old vehicles.
Since the order, hundreds of diesel-fuelled tractors have been impounded in the NCR region of Uttar Pradesh, whose 80% area falls under rural belt. Tractors in this cane-producing region are not only used in the fields, but also for transporting sugarcane to mills.

“The court ban coincides with the commencement of crushing season of sugarcane, during which all the farm produce is transported to sugar mills, mostly in tractors,” a farmer leader said.

After a massive Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) rally in which thousands of farmers reached the borders of the national capital in first week of October, the Central government had agreed to “keep tractors out of the list of banned vehicles by the National Green Tribunal (NGT)”.

The respite was brief, as “severe” air pollution in Delhi prompted the apex court to intervene and impose a ban on old vehicles. Following the court direction, police and officials of regional transport offices launched a crackdown in the region, inviting the farmers’ wrath.

Several protests have been held in the region within a week.

On Saturday, after transport department seized 16 vehicles including tractors, a large number of farmers under the banner of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) locked the premises of assistance regional transport office (ARTO) in Muzaffarnagar. They also brought an old tractor with them and held protest on the road.

“How can they force us to part with our tractors which are directly connected to our ‘rozi roti’?” asked Abhishek Choudhri, RLD’s UP spokesperson.

Speaking with TOI, RLD’s Muzaffarnagar head, Ajit Rathi said: “Farmers are not in condition to purchase new tractors. So, our demand is that they should be allowed to use their old vehicles.”

“After purchase, we use these vehicles for more than 25 years. And now they want to snatch it away in 10 years. In a decade, a farmer is only able to finish off the loan he takes for buying the vehicle. And when time comes for him to earn something, it will be gone,” he said.

Meanwhile, the transport authorities said that the crackdown will continue.