The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) postponed its planned protest outside the Agriculture minister's residence on April 8 after meeting the chief secretary Radha Raturi.  Stating this, BKU head Somdutt Sharma informed that earlier they had intended to protest against the protracted delay in clearance of dues of the State’s farmers by brokers at the Niranjanpur Mandi. However, after communicating their concerns and demands to Raturi, she assured them of addressing the farmers' pending payments promptly. She also instructed linear authorities to investigate the issue of outstanding payments at the Mandi. Considering this assurance, she asked them to postpone the protest until the investigation on the dues at the Mandi is completed, he added.

Sharma further accused the Agriculture minister Ganesh Joshi of deceiving and playing diplomatic games with farmers. The State’s farmers and the BKU are hoping that the CS will soon ensure that brokers clear their dues along with the commission that they have taken “illegally”. If payment is not cleared within a week or until the investigation is completed, they will resume their protest, he said.

It will be recalled that the BKU has been consistently demanding that the brokers should clear the dues of farmers for the past few months. They claim that the dues have been pending for about two years. In protest against this, they had blocked the Mandi gate and met with various public representatives in recent months to get the dues cleared.