Farmers to gherao Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan on Monday
Demanding complete loan waiver and implementation of recommendations of Dr Swaminathan Commission among other issues, hundreds of protesting farmers on Saturday entered Thane district. The farmers plan to encircle the Vidhan Bhavan on Monday, however, they are likely to be stopped at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
The foot march spearheaded by Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha started from the CBS Chowk in Nashik last Tuesday and would reach Mumbai on Sunday and camp at the Somaiya Ground at Sion.
Over the last few days, they are walking nearly 20 kms on an average, some of them barefoot.
Several political parties including Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, MNS and AAP had expressed solidarity with the farmers. The morcha coincides with the budget session of the Maharashtra legislature.
The demands of farmers include complete loan waiver, implementation of recommendations of the Dr MS Swaminathan Commission, adequate compensation for all farmers whose crops were destroyed by the pink bollworm, pension to poor farmers and implementation of Forest Right Act.
“We are poor farmers; we have to fight for our rights. The rich like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi are looting country,” said ABKS President Ashok Dhavale. “Farmers are feeling betrayed by the BJP-led government,” he added.
Dr. Ajit Navale, Secretary of ABKS, said that as per the Forest Right Act, if the farmer/tribal is cultivating any forest land for a long time, then the ownership of this cultivated forest should be given to that tribal. “We have been asking for this,” he said.
The rally comes at a time when the farmers discontentment against the government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is at its peak and assumes significance as the 2019 Lok Sabha polls is just a year away.
The Economic Survey of Maharashtra predicted a negative growth in the farm sector in 2017-18.
In his fourth budget, Finance, Planning and Forests Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar’s total outlay for the irrigation sector is Rs 8233 crore; and Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for promotion of organic farming in the state. A provision of Rs 1,500 crore has been made for Jalyukat Shivar Abhiyan, the flagship programme of the Fadnavis’s government to make 25,000 villages drought free at the end of five year term.
The Thackeray cousins had come out in full support of farmers. While Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray sent Public Works Minister Eknath Shinde, the Guardian Minister of Thane district, to meet the farmers, MNS President Raj Thackeray spoke to them over phone.
“The government has failed farmers miserably and merely believes in PR exercises sans execution of work. It has played a cruel joke on farmers, with a cap of Rs 1.5 lakh on compensation, which when combined with the application glitches and fine print conditions, has been catastrophic for farmers reeling under successive years of debt and crop failure,” Dhananjay Shinde of AAP said.
Source: Farmers to gherao Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan on Monday
