Farmers' widows to stage rally in Mumbai on Nov 29

Mumbai, Nov 13 (UNI) Over 5,000 widows of farmers, who had committed suicide in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region over last five years, will stage a rally at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai on November 29, to press for their demands.

The Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti spokesperson Santosh Naitam, in a release here today, said the rally will be led by Sarswatibai Anbarwar, wife of the cotton farmer, who had committed suicide first.

A delegation of widows is also likely to meet and submit a memorandum to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, he informed.

Their demands include pay compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre to each debt-ridden cotton and soyabean family of farmer, declare Vidarbha as drought area and also Rs 3,000 as monthly 'bhatta' (income) for their survival and provide food grains and medical facilities to the families, he added.

During the last five years, more than 5,000 cotton/soyabean growers had committed suicide due to their inability to repay the loans of banks or moneylenders in time.

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