20K farmers march towards Mumbai from Nashik to seek govt intervention on pressing issues
The falling prices of late kharif season onions have led to huge losses for farmers leading to a spate of protests that erupted since the beginning of this month. Last week, the farmers from Lasalgaon, India’s biggest onion market, Pimpalgaon and Chandwad blocked the Ahmednagar-Pune highway and also demonstrated outside government offices, demanding quick government intervention
Mumbai: With the hope that the state government will pay heed to their problems, over 20,000 farmers on Sunday started a long march from Dindori in Nashik, towards Mumbai. The march has been organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha (ABKS).
The marching farmers will take around nine days to reach Mumbai with an estimated arrival on March 20.
The farmers’ outfit has raised several demands before the government right from providing financial aid to the onion producers and buying their produce through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) among others.
The falling prices of late kharif season onions have led to huge losses for farmers leading to a spate of protests that erupted since the beginning of this month. Last week, the farmers from Lasalgaon, India’s biggest onion market, Pimpalgaon and Chandwad blocked the Ahmednagar-Pune highway and also demonstrated outside government offices, demanding quick government intervention.
As protests erupt, the state government has formed a panel under Sunil Pawar, former marketing director of the state to suggest the steps to be taken to offer respite to the farmers.
“The farmers are in a state of despair. They are not getting proper prices for their produce, which is the major reason for all their problems. The time has come for the state government’s intervention by providing financial aid of ₹600 per quintal to the onion producers and also directing Nafed to buy the onion produce at the rate of ₹2,000 per quintal,” said Dr Ajit Nawale, joint secretary, ABKS.
They have also demanded a 12-hour power supply to the farmers during day time, immediate financial help to the farmers affected by unseasonal rains, proper prices for all the other farm produce and waiving off all their loans in order to strengthen them to stand on their own.
The unseasonal rains, accompanied by lightning hit parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai and Pune last week leading to loss of the crops.
ABKS, which has been fighting for the rights of the agrarian community, organised a farmers’ long march from Nashik to Mumbai in March 2018. In 2019 too they tried to bring a similar march to the financial capital but were stopped by the police. They have been demanding a complete loan waiver, higher MSP as recommended in the Swaminathan Commission report, appointing members of the state commission for agricultural costs and prices and others.
