Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said that the Centre has no record of farmers who died during the ongoing protest, but data compiled by the Punjab government shows that 220 farmers and farmer labourers have died from the state, reported The Indian Express.
The data, accessed by the daily, showed that details of these many farmers had been verified till 20 July and the state government had given a total of Rs 10.86 crore as compensation to the families of the deceased.
For almost eight months, thousands of farmers from the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting along Delhi's borders – Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur – demanding the Centre to repeal three farm laws that were passed last year.
As per the report, the most number of deaths (43) were reported from Sangrur district, followed by Bathinda district where 33 deaths have been reported, so far. The government has given a compensation of Rs 2.13 crore and 1.65 crore in the two districts respectively.
Other cases that have been verified so far include 27 cases in Moga, 25 in Patiala, 17 in Barnala, 13 in Ludhiana among others.
The state government is in the process of verifying more such in various districts, the report added.
There have been 11 rounds of talks between the farm leaders and the Centre over the laws, but when a 'deadlock' had been reached between the two parties in the last round. No further conference has been held between the farmers and the Centre ever since.
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