The Confederation of All India Traders on Thursday wrote to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal seeking "due representation" in the panel proposed by the Supreme Court to resolve the dispute between the Central government and farmers protesting in the national capital over the recent farm laws.
The CAIT, in its letter, said that a large number of traders are engaged in business activities connected with farming such as traders working in Mandis and outside Mandis assisting farmers in selling their crops, transport, agricultural commodity and food grains.
"We refer to the directions of the Supreme Court issued yesterday on the issue of farmers agitation, to constitute a committee to resolve the issue which should include the farmers' associations and other stakeholders. In this, we shall request you to include the name of the CAIT as one of the important stakeholders connected with the three farm bills," the letter said.
It said that the farm laws are not only connected with the farmers but also have a close connection with several other stakeholders who are dealing in various other items being required by farmers from the sowing of the seeds, cultivation of the farmland and finally take crops to the end consumer.
"This supply chain plays an important role in the farming and therefore has a vital bearing of the farm bills and as such opportunity to represent crores of traders, the due opportunity should be given to us as a member of the sad Committee for taking participation in the said committee," the letter said.
The CAIT said that there is a need to protect the interest of all stakeholders while taking any decision on the farm bills.
This comes as the Supreme Court, while hearing a plea against the farmers' protest at different Delhi borders, observed that it "will soon become a national issue" and expressed that it intends to set up a committee comprising representatives of farmers unions across India, government and other stakeholders to resolve the matter.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting at the gates of the national capital for over 20 days against the recently passed farm laws. While the Centre and farmer leaders have held several rounds of talks to resolve their differences, discussions have remained inconclusive.
( With inputs from ANI )
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