Semi-clad farmer stir comes to halt

Mumbai: The police at Mankhurd halted protesting semi-clad farmers who were marching towards Mantralaya from Satara district on Sunday morning. They have been asked to send their representatives to the state secretariat to pursue their demands.

Nearly 100 farmers from 10 villages in Khandala taluka from Satara had begun their protest march on foot on January 12. In the last eight days, they walked about 180 km to seek ‘justice’ for their demands, which have been pending since last 10 years.

According to them, they have been affected due to land acquisition from the MIDC for projects like the Krishna Khore irrigation project and highway construction. Some of their major demands are that the government should not acquire land forcefully for the MIDC, locals should get employment in companies which that will be started by acquiring their land in MIDC, amenities like electricity, roads and water supply should be provided, adequate compensation should be given to affected families and Rs 50,000 as one-time unemployment allowance to be given to the affected person.

Despite making several efforts, these demands have not been fulfilled by the government, they said. Pramod Jadhav, president of Shetkari Sanghatna Kisan Manch, who led the march, said police at Mankhurd halted their march. “The police asked us to visit Mantralaya with a small delegation instead of taking a protest march. But we will try to enter the state secretariat semi-nude.”

If our demands were not fulfilled, we would intensify our agitation. Our next step would be a Jal Samadhi with our families at Nira River, he added.