All India Kisan Sabha Condemns Police Firing and Lathi Charge on Sugarcane Farmers in Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) condemns the police firing in the air and the brutal lathi charge on sugarcane farmers at Shevgaon in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra today.

Hundreds of sugarcane farmers were peacefully agitating for getting a price of Rs 3100 per tonne of sugarcane, when the attack by the police of the BJP-led state government took place. The farmers were severely lathi-charged and several rounds were fired in the air. At least seven farmers were badly injured in this attack.

The agitation by sugarcane farmers for remunerative price for their cane has been going on in several centres of Maharashtra for the last few weeks. The BJP-led state government was given enough time for negotiations to settle their demands. But it did nothing of the kind and instead, has let loose the police on the fighting peasants.

A delegation of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha led by its General Secretary Dr Ajit Nawale will be visiting Shevgaon, the scene of the police attack, immediately.

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) demands that: 1. The state government must give immediate and adequate compensation to all the farmers injured in the police attack and must meet all their medical expenses, 2. The state government must take immediate steps to ensure that remunerative price at one and a half times the cost of production be given to farmers growing sugarcane and all other crops.

Hannan Mollah, General Secretary

Dr Ashok Dhawale,President