Third round of Centre-farmers talks ends on 'positive' note; next meeting on Feb 18

Chandigarh, Feb 16: The third round of talks between the Central government and farmer leaders ended on early Friday with Union Minister Arjun Munda saying a "very positive" discussion happened.

It has been decided that the next meeting will take place on Sunday, February 18, at 6 p.m.

"We all will find a solution peacefully," Munda told the media here after the talks that lasted for nearly five hours.

The third round of talks between farmer leaders and Union ministers -- Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai -- started after a delay of three hours on Thursday evening.

The farmer leaders who took part in the meeting included Jagjit Singh Dallewal, Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jarnail Singh.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who was also present in the meeting, said that the talks were held in a "cordial atmosphere" and he is hopeful of finding a solution to end the deadlock.

"Positive discussions held on 13-14 demands... I requested the Centre to direct the Haryana government to maintain peace in (interstate) border areas," Mann said.

The previous two rounds of dialogue -- on February 8 and 12 -- remained inconclusive.

The farmers continued their protest on interstate borders between Punjab and Haryana, demanding higher minimum crop prices and waiver of loans, among other demands.