Farmers’ outfits demand that Maharashtra government be booked for abetting suicides

The Maharashtra groups have also demanded a blanket loan waiver, along with the implementation of minimum support prices as recommended by the Swaminath Commission Report

The agrarian conflict in Maharashtra continued to escalate as farmers’ outfits organised protests across the state on Friday.

The groups demanded that the Devendra Fadnavis-led government be booked for aiding and abetting farmer suicides (HT File)

The groups demanded that the Devendra Fadnavis-led government be booked for aiding and abetting farmer suicides. They have also demanded a blanket loan waiver, along with the implementation of minimum support prices as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission Report.

According to the coordinator of the steering committee Ajit Nawale, protest marches were held outside the tehsildar offices in Ahmednagar, Nashik, Beed, Parbhani, Amravati, Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Dhule, Jalgaon and Pune.

Farmer’s leader, Raghunath Dada Patil told HT that if the farmers’ demands are not meant, they will approach the court under section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows for a police investigation of the case.

He said the farmers even submitted request letters to the local police stations demanding that the state be booked for cheating and abetting farmer suicides.

Farmers’ issues in the state gained significance earlier this year after a strike in June resulted in the state government declaring a loan waiver of Rs34,022 crore.

This is likely to reduce the total number of farmers eligible for the waivers from 69 lakh to 62-65 lakh, and the waiver amount from Rs34,022 crore to Rs25,000 crore.

Farmers’ outfits have opposed these changes.