Farmers block road at MP toll plaza, demand MSP law and loan waiver

Farmers on Monday began a sit-in at a toll plaza in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, pressing for a comprehensive loan waiver, a statutory guarantee of minimum support price (MSP), and official recognition of the cow as the “mother of the nation”.

The demonstration, held at the Khalghat toll plaza under the banner of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, saw hundreds of protesters chanting the Hanuman Chalisa at daybreak and parking tractors across one carriageway of the four-lane highway, partially blocking traffic. A heavy police presence has been deployed, with district authorities holding continuous talks in an attempt to maintain calm, an official confirmed.

The agitation comes amid a broader wave of farmer unrest across the country, including in neighbouring Maharashtra, where cultivators have held multiple protests in recent weeks over falling crop prices, erratic procurement, and delays in compensation for weather-related losses.

In parts of Nashik, Ahmednagar and Jalna, farmers have staged highway blockades and market boycotts demanding a legally enforceable MSP, better onion prices, and quicker government intervention — pressure that has sharpened calls for nationwide agricultural policy reform.

Against this backdrop, farmer leader Sitaram Ingala said the Madhya Pradesh protest reflected longstanding grievances. “We have proposed arrangements for government purchase of maize, soybean and cotton under a predetermined procurement plan. We also demand that all farmers be made debt-free and that the MSP guarantee be enacted as a law,” he said.

Agriculturists from Dhar, Khandwa, Khargone and Barwani districts have joined the sit-in.

Protesters are also seeking a shift in the Centre’s export-import policy to prioritise farmer interests, particularly by reopening exports of pulses, cotton and onions — commodities for which fluctuating export controls have often hit farm incomes. Alongside economic demands, the agitators continue to insist that the cow be accorded “mother of the nation” status, a long-standing cultural request among certain groups.

Ingala said the demonstrators would remain at the site until the Central government accepted their demands. “We have submitted memorandums for the past five months, and despite repeated requests, our pleas have gone unheard,” he said, warning that protests would spread to additional locations if authorities attempted to prevent farmers assembling in Khalghat.

Dhar superintendent of police Mayank Awasthi said a group of farmers had occupied one side of the toll plaza since morning. “They have parked tractors blocking one side of the four-lane road,” he said, adding that traffic continued to flow normally on the other side. If congestion builds, traffic will be diverted from both ends, he added.

With PTI inputs