Patna: An MP from the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, on Monday staged a dharna against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar.

Veena Devi, the LJP MP from Munger, was protesting what she called the lack of government help for pulse farmers in the Mokama taal (lake) area. Veena said she decided to sit on dharna with farmers at Mokama chowk, around 100 km east of Patna, as she failed to get a response from Union agriculture minister Radhamohan Singh, river development & Ganga rejuvenation minister Nitin Gadkari, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and even Veena's party boss and consumer affairs, food and public distribution minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

"The farmers growing pulses in the taal area face many problems - there is no storage facility for their produce, irrigation and marketing facilities are poor - leaving them with no other alternative but to sell their produce at lower price to middlemen," Veena explained.

The pulse producing belt around the taal includes areas such as Mokama, Barh, Barahiya, Lakhisarai, and Sheikhpura.

Veena claimed that after trying in vain to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a while, she could finally meet him on May 19. The Munger MP said that the Prime Minister listened to her grievances and assured he would take up the case. However, Veena added, her biggest disappointment was that despite several attempts to meet chief minister Nitish Kumar and her party boss Ram Vilas Paswan, none of them gave her time.

The agitating farmers on Monday paralysed movement of vehicles on highways passing through the area and also stopped trains. The Tata-Danapur Express was stranded at Barh junction for hours due to the farmers' protest.

The Mokama taal area alone constitutes 1.16 lakh hectares of the total 2.5 crore hectares on which pulses are grown in the country. The taal is spread over 1,062 sq km comprising seven continuous lakes and is fed by the Ganga, Punpun, Harohar and several other local rivers. It stays submerged in four- to six-foot-deep water from July to September. The farmers grow chana (gram) and masur - varieties of pulses - once the water recedes in September and October.

Farmers have been fighting for water management and development of the Mokama taal area for decades.

JDU MLC Neeraj Kumar, who hails from the Mokama taal area, said: "The main problem behind farmers' plight is poor and irregular pulses procurement by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed), which is a central agency."

Neeraj claimed that Nitish has taken various initiative to develop the taal area such as building roads, electrifying villages and constructing canals.