AMN / MUMBAI
Thousands of farmers from different parts of Maharashtra arrived in Mumbai on Sunday, turning the arterial roads of India’s financial capital into a sea of red. Their numbers swelled from 40,000 to 50,000 over the day, the organisers said.
On Monday, they plan to surround the state assembly to press for their demands of a complete loan waiver, fair pay and transfer of adivasi land to farmers who have been tilling it for years. The tribals have joined the protest in huge numbers. The huge crowd that has camped at the KJ Somaiya Ground, will start to move towards Azad Maidan, a large ground designated for protests in South Mumbai, around midnight.
The government reached out to farmers, promising to meet their demands, but farmers’ leaders said they will press on with tomorrow’s protest at the Vidhan Bhavan (Legislature Complex).
The farmers demand a complete loan waiver, remunerative prices for agricultural produce and implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations among others. The budget session is under way at the state legislature.
The opposition Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Shiv Sena, which is part of the ruling alliance, have extended support to the farmers’ demands. Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray met the farmers today. But the farmers are not happy. They want the Sena to speak as representatives of the government and not as a political party.
Farmers plan to gherao the state assembly to press for their demands of a complete loan waiver, fair pay and transfer of adivasi land to farmers who have been tilling it for years (PTI)
In November last year, the Devendra Fadnavis government had announced loan waiver for farmers after the state witnessed a 10-day long protest by farmers. Without mentioning figures or who would be eligible, he had promised that it would be the “biggest loan waiver in Maharashtra’s history”. Last month, state Governor Vidyasagar Rao told the state assembly that said the government has transferred more than Rs. 12,000 crore into bank accounts of more than 3.1 million farmers.
But the farmers also want the implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, which says farmers should be paid one-and-a-half times the cost of production and the Minimum Support Price should be fixed keeping this in mind.
