Maharashtra farmers on indefinite strike over loan waiver

On Tuesday, various farmer bodies of the state met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis,but the talks failed.

Mumbai, June 1: Farmers from several villages across Maharashtra are on an indefinite strike from today to seek loan waiver from the government. Apart from loan waiver, the farmers are also demanding the scrapping of ban on sale of animals for slaughter.

Stray incidents of violence were reported from some parts including Nashik, Satara and Pune where aggressive farmers emptied tankers of several tonnes of fresh milk being transported to the cities and destroyed stocks of fresh vegetables being taken to the markets.

In another incident near Satara, the driver of a milk tanker was roughed up by some farmers and prevented from proceeding to his destination. Stones were also pelted at some police vehicles near Nashik.

The strike was called from Wednesday midnight protesting against various issues including their demand of a loan waiver. This is probably the first time farmers have resorted to a strike and Agriculture Produce Market Committees across the state are likely to remain empty from Thursday.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis held a three-hour-long meeting the delegation of the farmers on Tuesday, however, they were not convinced and decided to go ahead with the strike.

In the first phase, the farmers will stop sending their produce to the markets unless farm loans are waived off and a Minimum Support Price is guaranteed. Seeing the response, they will intensify their agitation in the second phase.

According to the sources, the supply of milk, vegetables and fruits is likely to be affected in Mumbai and other parts of the state.

Meanwhile, the farmers have organised morchas in Beed, Latur, Parbhani, Marathwada region, Amarawati, Buldhana in Vidarbha, Daund, Sangli, Kolhapur, Nagar in western Maharashtra, Nasik in Northern Maharashtra among other parts of Maharashtra.

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)