Aurangabad, Oct 19:
Farmers from Gangapur, Vaijapur, Kannad and Khuldabad staged an agitation in the district collector office premises on Monday demanding to declare a wet drought.
They threw rotten maize, legume, cotton plants and tomatoes on the vehicles of district administration and public representatives.
The agitators were led by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader and former chairman of Constructing Committee of Zilla Parishad Santosh Jadhav.
The farmers raised slogans like ‘Udhava Ajab Tujhe Sarkar, Shetkari Jhale Bejar, Jillyat Ola Dushkal Jahir Kara, Nahitar Khurchi Khali Kara.’
Jadhav said that farmers are in crisis as standing crops were damaged because of heavy rainfall.“There is a parameter of declared wet drought if the damage is more than 33 per cent. But, no decision was taken yet,” they demanded.
Meanwhile, the delegation met the district collector Sunil Chavan and submitted a memorandum. They requested Chavan to forward the memorandum immediately.
There were arguments between police and agitators for a long time. This caused tension for some time.
The other demands of agitators included provide Rs 75,000 compensation for one hectare, Rs 1 lakh help should be given to fruit growers for their losses.
Yuvraj Tathe, Subhash Bhosale, Dyaneshwar Tiwade, Raju Shinde, Raju Thorat, Sharad Pawar and others were present.