Congress delegation meets CM, demands CBI probe in Dalit killing, settling farmers' issues

Demanding a CBI inquiry into the killing of a Dalit family in Javkhede village in Pathardi taluka of Ahmednagar district, Congress on Wednesday also told chief minister Devendra Fadnavis that it will bring a morcha of farmers during the winter session of the state assembly in Nagpur if government doesn't settle issues of farmers in the state.

A delegation of Congress led by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre and Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Janardan Chandurkar met Fadnavis and handed over a memorandum of demands to him. Fadnavis assured them action on all the issues raised.

Thakre demanded that state start cotton purchase centres for farmers and give them Rs5,000-6,000 for their produce, bearing the difference between that amount and Centre's minimum support price.

He also demanded loan waiver for the farmers hit by successive calamities of untimely rains, hailstorm, and less production of various crops. Thakre said soyabean farmers have incurred huge losses this year and, hence, government needs to give them compensation. He also demanded a fair price for sugarcane-producing farmers.