50,000 Farmers Reached Mumbai to gherao Vidhan Sabha
MUMBAI : Unmindful of the scorching heat, over 50,000 farmers reached Mumbai on Sunday with a series of demands, including complete loan waiver. The farmers will gather at Somaiya Ground in Sion. Here’s all you need to know about the protest:
The farmers, who had camped at the KJ Somaiya Ground in Sion, will start to move towards the Azad maidan around midnight, from where they will proceed to the state assembly tomorrow morning.
The farmers are planning to troop into south Mumbai on Monday and gherao the state assembly to 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.
Ashok Dhawle, president of the AIKS, said 50,000 people have joined the protests and the number will grow tomorrow. Assuring that the protests will not disturb the city, he said, “We will begin our rally after 11 am so that students appearing for their Class 10 board exam don’t face any difficulties”.
After walking with blistered feet for about 180 km in the blazing sun over the last five days, thousands of farmers from Maharashtra’s Nashik district entered Mumbai today, turning the arterial roads of India’s financial capital into a sea of red.
The huge crowd that has camped at the KJ Somaiya Ground, will start to move towards Azad maidan around midnight. This evening, as the procession teemed into Mumbai, Girish Mahajan, senior minister in the cabinet of Devendra Fadnavis, welcomed the march at Mulund in suburban Mumbai.
“We are sad that farmers have come all the way to protest,” he said, adding that the government, which has met some earlier demands, will consider the fresh wish-list.
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.
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. 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.(With Agency Inputs).
