Congress asks Maharashtra government to act on farmers' issues, anti-Dalit violence

The opposition Congress on Saturday asked the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in Maharashtra to focus on some critical issues such as the need to set up cotton procurement centres, compensation for farmers affected by unseasonal rains and prevention of dengue epidemic. It also demanded action against the culprits in the triple Dalit murder case in Ahmednagar district.

State Congress president Manikrao Thakre said here that cotton crop was ready and the government should immediately set up procurement centres and ensure that farmers get a good price.

Soybean producers had suffered losses due to the low rainfall while the paddy growers in Konkan had suffered due to unseasonal rains, he said.

"The government should immediately review the losses and declare compensation," he demanded. Thakre also asked the government to take measures to control the dengue epidemic on a war footing.

The state Congress chief alleged that there was a rise in the atrocities against Dalits while the state was under the President's rule last month. "The Governor should have visited families of the victims. Even Shiv Sena and BJP leaders did not meet the families to console them," he said.

Congress would launch a state-wide agitation if culprits in the the incident at Javkhede in Ahmednagar district, where three Dalit persons were killed in a brutal manner recently, were not arrested at the earliest, he said.

Thakre also said that Congress would support the right to service legislation (announced by Fadnavis yesterday after the swearing-in ceremony).