Maha farmers’ protest march likely to reach Mumbai today
After walking for more than 120km, farmers from Maharashtra, who started marching towards the state legislature on Wednesday, have reached the outskirts of the city, close to textile town of Bhiwandi and are expected to reach Mumbai by Sunday.
On Friday evening, the protesters, halted at Valkas Pada, about 40km from Thane, and restarted their march early Saturday morning.
The farmers, led by the Maharashtra unit of the farmers’ outfit Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha (ABKS), are heading to Mumbai to block access to the state legislature building from Monday until their demands are met.The protest is likely to create trouble for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government as the budget session of the state legislature is underway.
The ABKS has claimed that 30,000 farmers are participating in the march.
The farmers are demanding access to land under the possession of the forest department that their forefathers used to cultivate, implementation of recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report and widening the scope of the farm loan waiver scheme announced by the government last year.
As Rajendra Warde, a farmer from Nashik, sat applying a pain reliever on his swollen foot, he said: “To lead less than an average life, we need at least 10 acres of land for farming. We are only demanding for what has belonged to us; for generations, we have been cultivating this land. But now forest authority is destroying our farmland and asking us to leave.”
Warde said he now works as a farm labourer and earns around Rs150 per day, three or four times a week. “Most days, I can barely manage to have a full meal.”
The farmers also want the state government to implement recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee, which includes offering a better minimum support price for farm produce.
Farmers are also demanding that their pending electricity bills be waived and power be restored.
While the organisers of the protest claim that around 30, 000 farmers are participating in the march, the local police said the number may be half of that.
MUMBAI: