Chief Minister takes Guarantee for Implementation of Demands of Nashik Long March

Mumbai, January 27, 2026: In the backdrop of the Long March organized from Nashik to press for demands such as the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, utilization of water flowing into the sea for local communities and drought-prone areas of Maharashtra, commencement of PESA recruitment to provide employment, and other demands, a delegation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) presented the farmers’ demands at a meeting at the Mantralaya in Mumbai today.

The Kisan Sabha delegation held detailed discussions on various issues for over two hours with Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike, School Education Minister Dada Bhuse, and Forest Minister Ganesh Naik, along with the Chief Secretary and officials from various departments.

Following this, the delegation met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Varsha, the Chief Minister’s residence. The following demands were accepted during this meeting:

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave a complete assurance and gave a personal guarantee regarding the implementation of all the accepted demands.

He also assured continuous follow-up at the ministerial level to ensure that there are no shortcomings in the implementation.

It was agreed to re-examine the forest rights claims of all claimants under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). The discrepancy between the amount of land given to the peasant family under FRA and the land under actual possession has increased due to incorrect opinions from the Forest Department, resulting in injustice to thousands of farmers. To rectify this injustice, it was decided in the meeting to re-examine all the FRA claims in each district. For this purpose, committees of officers will be appointed in each district under the chairmanship of the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) to examine each forest rights case.

This entire exercise will be completed within the next three months, and justice will be given to the forest landholders. To expedite this process, an implementation committee including ministers has been constituted.

During the meeting, it was announced that crop inspection would be conducted on forest lands, and all government schemes would be extended to forest landholders. The Tribal Development Minister issued orders in this regard.

The Kisan Sabha insisted that paddy cultivated by farmers on forest land, as well as millets like Varai, Nagli, and Sawa, along with tribal crops, strawberries, and Bal Hirda fruits, should be purchased at fair prices. A demand was also made that the bonus given to paddy producers should be extended to forest landholders as well. E-Crop inspection is necessary for forest landholders to avail themselves of these and all other government schemes. It was agreed that E-Crop surveys would be conducted for forest landholders to ensure that they receive the benefits of all these schemes.

Regarding the regularization of lands cultivated by farmers on temple trust lands (Devasthan Lands), the process of drafting a law has been initiated due to the continuous agitation and follow-up by the Kisan Sabha, and a draft of this law has been recently provided to the Kisan Sabha. While some aspects of this draft are commendable, the Kisan Sabha highlighted the need for some radical changes. It was decided that a meeting of the Kisan Sabha delegation would be organized within the next eight days under the chairmanship of Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule to address and resolve the shortcomings in the draft.

Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule showed a positive attitude towards regularizing the ‘Warkas’ lands in Thane and Palghar districts, and the demand to complete the legal process and provide justice to those cultivating these lands was accepted.

The water falling in the tribal areas flows into the sea through seven west-flowing rivers. Some people are trying to divert this water to Gujarat. The Kisan Sabha emphatically demanded that instead of doing so, this water should be made available to the local people and to the drought-prone areas of Maharashtra. A concrete action plan was decided upon to construct various types of check dams to retain this water locally and make it available to the local population. A detailed plan will be prepared at the Nashik District Collector level, and the proposals submitted by the Kisan Sabha will be seriously considered in this entire process. An announcement was also made to expedite the plan to divert the water flowing into the sea towards the east and provide it to the drought-prone areas, including Marathwada.

The court has ordered that posts under PESA (Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act) be filled within the 50% limit, and it was agreed that this would be implemented immediately, and PESA recruitment would be carried out in the tribal areas.

The Kisan Sabha strongly demanded that farmers be provided with electricity during the day. It was decided that information would be immediately collected regarding the districts where electricity is provided at night for agricultural irrigation, and a decision would be made to provide electricity to farmers during the day in those areas.

School midday meal workers receive extremely meager remuneration. Since the promise to increase their remuneration has not yet been fulfilled, the Kisan Sabha pressed the matter. It was announced that a decision would be made immediately to provide justice to the school midday meal workers.

The Kisan Sabha demanded that school buildings and classrooms be repaired and teachers be recruited where necessary, so that students in rural, tribal, and remote areas have access to all educational facilities. School Education Minister Dada Bhuse assured that concrete action would be taken in this regard.

The delegation requested the Chief Minister that the Nashik-Pune high-speed railway line, which passes through Akole, should be constructed according to the previous survey. The Chief Minister assured that a solution would be found by reconsidering various proposals to overcome the technical difficulties regarding the alteration of the Nashik-Pune high-speed railway line.

A decision on withdrawing the protest will be taken after discussion with the state leadership of the Kisan Sabha and, most importantly, with the protesters gathered at Khardi for the night. Tomorrow, September 28, Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan and the Nashik District Collector will themselves inform the protesters about the demands conceded, will also give a written copy of the minutes and the decisions of today’s m meeting, after which the decision regarding the protest will be announced.

Today’s delegation included Dr. Ashok Dhawale, former MLA J. P. Gavit, Dr. Ajit Nawale, MLA Vinod Nikole, Umesh Deshmukh, Subhash Chaudhary, Indrajit Gavit, Irfan Shaikh, Kiran Gahala, Sunil Malusare, Bhika Rathod, Devidas Wagh, Ramdas Pawar, Radka Kalangda, Chandrakant Ghorkhana, Eknath Mengal, and others.