Having been continuously hit by unseasonal rains and hailstorms in recent times, with another hailstorm having come their way on Saturday, farmers in Nashik district staged rail and road blockades on
Having been continuously hit by unseasonal rains and hailstorms in recent times, with another hailstorm having come their way on Saturday, farmers in Nashik district staged rail and road blockades on Sunday morning.
Hundreds of angry farmers blockaded the Nashik-Aurangabad Highway and piled their destroyed crops of watermelon, grape, wheat stalk and onion on the road. Niphad tehsildar Sandeep Aher and the police rushed to the spot and placated the agitators. Farmers also blockaded trains at Shivdi Gate number 1. However, both the agitations were peaceful. Shetkari Sanghatana leader Arjun Tatya Borade said that it was an all-party agitation, which included sarpanch Anil Kunde, Shankar Karbhari and others.
“We gave a memorandum to the tehsildar. It states that farmers have gone completely bankrupt due to the vagaries of nature and are now faced with starvation. Not only can they not repay the loans, but have no money to buy seeds for the next crop. Hence, their loans and electricity bills should be waived,” Mr Borade stated.
Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) chairman Nanasaheb Patil said, “The onion crop being presently harvested has been affected along with the ‘unhal’ variety, which is still growing. This could affect the onion supply later this year.”
Farmer and social worker Ashokrao Kapase said that losses to vineyards too were immense. “The losses are not temporary as the vine has been affected. The vine becomes unproductive for some years, which means the vineyard could be affected for nearly five years.
Tehsildar Mr Aher said that Nashik’s guardian minister Girish Mahajan would come and speak with the farmers. “We are carefully completing the panchnama (spot report) on priority. About 4,000 to 5,000 hectares of farmland have been severely affected. The report and the memorandum will be sent to the government, which will then take action.”
