Farmers from several districts had been on strike since June 1 demanding loan waivers and were distressed over falling prices of agriculture produce and other related issues.
After a three-hour long discussion with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and getting almost 70 to 80 per cent of their demands fulfilled, the coordination committee of the Kisan Kranti Morcha called off its indefinite strike on Saturday morning.
The 10-member delegation of the coordination committee called on Fadnavis at Friday midnight. Their meeting took place between 12.35 am and 3.35 am, after which the delegation, along with the CM, announced the decision to call off the strike. The Chief Minister was accompanied by senior minister Chandrakant Patil and Minister of State for agriculture Sadabhau Khot. Local MLA from Ahmednagar district Snehalata Kolhe was also present.
Chief Minister Fadnavis announced that the decision for loan waiver of farmers with small landholdings would be announced before October 31 this year. He made it clear that a committee comprising members from the government and farmers would take a final call for finalizing the beneficiary farmers in the state. Fadnavis said that farmers with little over five acres of land holdings would not be excluded for technical reasons from this list and the committee would have the final authority to take a call on cases in this regard.
Fadnavis said that farmers with small and marginal landholdings would be benefited with this loan waiver and no poor and needy farmer would be excluded. He said that the committee will ensure that no deserving farmer is excluded from loan waiver. He said that all these farmers are out of the credit net since 2012.
Chief Minister Fadnavis also announced that a state agricultural pricing commission would be set up within a month. He announced that the government would explore the possibility of appointing an independent regulator for deciding milk prices. He said that the government has agreed to increase the purchase rates for farmers' milk and the final rates would be decided by June 20 by involving representatives of the government, milk federation and farmers jointly in this process.
Fadnavis announced that the increased power bills would be reconsidered and the interest on the unpaid bills along with fines would be allowed to be paid by giving facility of suitable installments to farmers. He said that a bill would be brought in the monsoon session of the state assembly so that FIRs would be lodged against those who would pay less than assured price for farmers' produce.
Chief Minister Fadnavis announced that the FIRs lodged against farmers during the strike would be taken back. However, he made it clear that FIRs lodged against criminals or those who are not farmers would not be removed.
The chief coordinator of the Kisan Kranti Morcha, which has a 23-member coordination committee, Dhananjay Jadhav confirmed that the strike is being called off. He said that the decision would also be given a nod during the Gram Sabha or village meeting on Saturday and a formal resolution would be passed to this effect.
Jayaji Suryavanshi, Jadhav and Shantaram Kunjir told media persons that since Chief Minister Fadnavis has yielded to almost 70 to 80 per cent of their demands, they had decided to call off the strike. Sandip Gidde, Satish Kanavade, Vijay Kakade, Kamal Samant, Seema Narode, Shankar Darekar, Yogesh Rayate were also part of the delegation.
The Chief Minister also announced that the government has decided to provided help to the family of farmer Ashok More, who died of heart attack during the strike. Dhananjay Jadhav said that the coordination committee owes responsibility of More's death and that is the reason, taking into account the interests of farmers and the people, the strike has been called off.
Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha to continue strike
Dr. Ajit Navale, general secretary of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha, which is the farmers' wing of CPIM, boycotted the meeting at 3.20 am and came out of the Chief Minister's bungalow. He said that the Kisan Sabha would continue its strike. However, the Kisan Kranti Morcha delegation made it clear that they have called off the strike and Navale was not part of their delegation.
Congress-NCP wanted to foment violence - CM
Fadnavis informed that it was Sadabhau Khot who was in touch with farmer leaders and conveyed the message of meeting. Reiterating his allegation against Congress and NCP that they wanted to foment violence under the garb of this strike, Fadnavis said, "Some people have been nabbed and goods looted during the strike have been confiscated from their houses. These people belong to a particular party and that is the reason I had said that farmers would never loot their own produce. I stick to my allegations.'
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