SC Panel-Dallewal Meet Ends in Deadlock

Fasting Farmer Leader Rejects SC-Appointed Committee's Request to Take Medical Help

- Karam Prakash

PATIALA: The meeting of the Supreme Court-appointed panel with fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal on Monday ended in a deadlock as the latter flatly turned down their request to take medical aid.

The meeting came hours after the Punjab government, during a hearing in the apex court, informed the bench that the farmer bodies had agreed to meet the committee headed by former Punjab and Haryana high court judge Justice Nawab Singh. The committee was constituted by the apex court on September 2 last year with the aim to amicably resolve the grievances of protesting farmers.

Dallewal, who is the convener of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), has been on an indefinite hunger strike at the Khanauri border point between Punjab and Haryana since November 26, 2024, over several demands, including a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops. Dallewal has so far refused to take any medical aid despite his prolonged fasting, which has caused his health to deteriorate.

The committee members reached the Khanauri protest site at around 3.30 pm and requested the septuagenarian Dallewal to take medical assistance.