Manikrao demands withdrawal of criminal cases against Dalits

Yavatmal, Mah, Dec 3 (UNI) Yavatmal district Congress president and former Maharashtra Home Minister Manikrao Thakre today demanded the immediate withdrawal of all criminal offences registered against protesters, allegedly involved in violent protests over the desecration of a bust of Dalit icon Dr Bahasaheb Ambedkar in Kanpur.

A delegation of senior Congress leaders from Vidarbha will meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh this evening and submit a memorandum demanding immediate withdrawal of all criminal cases against the protesters, Mr Thakre said.

The delegates will also appriase the Chief Minister of the critical agrarian crisis in Vidarbha and demand a rise in the support price of cotton to at least Rs 3000 per quintal on the basis of the production cost.

The delegation will also demand that the State Government give a subsidy to the tune of Rs 2000 per hectare to all the farmers holding 2-5 hectares of land and prevail upon the Union government to waive all the crop related loan dues from the farmers.

All pending agricultural irrigation projects should be completed in a time-bound manner, Mr Thakre said.

He pointed out that with the available water resources, 45 per cent of the land in Vidarbha can easily be brought under irrigation for which the state government should make an action plan of all the feasible irrigation projects and they should be started simultaneously.

For this purpose, all necessary funds should be sought from the Central government and the farmers should be given 90 per cent subsidy for such irrigation programmes, he suggested.

The delegation under Thakre's leadership would comprise of prominent Congress leaders from Vidarbha which include former Ministers Shivajirao Moghe (Yavatmal), Surendra Bhoyar (Amravati), and others.

''We will discuss various issues related to the farmers of Vidarbha and the development of the region with the Chief Minister, ''Mr Thakre added.

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