The reason for another march is the non-fulfillment of promises made by the government, said the organisers of the protest rally at a press conference in Marathi Patrakar Sangh on Wednesday.
The city will witness another farmer protest march on November 21. Around 20,000 farmers will be gathering in Thane next week and move to Maharashtra Assembly on November 22. The reason for another march is the non-fulfillment of promises made by the government, said the organisers of the protest rally at a press conference in Marathi Patrakar Sangh on Wednesday.
Organised by the Lok Sangharsh Morcha, it had members of Janta Dal (secular) and Aam Aadmi Party among others. "The government had given farmers an assurance that their demands will be fulfilled. September 12 was the due date for the same. Now there will be around 20,000 farmers who will be coming from Vidarbha, Marathwada, Pune, and north Maharashtra among other places to seek their rights," said Pratibha Shinde, General Secretary, Lok Sangharsha Morcha.
After reaching Thane by train, farmers will first march to Vidya Vihar, just like the farmers from Nashik had done. They will be led by social activist Rajendra Singh and politician Yogendra Yadav. They will then march to Azad Maidan and may be to a place near the Mantralaya, if the demands are not met. "We hope to get support from the police and municipal commissioners of both Thane and Mumbai," said activist Feroze Mithiborwala.
Those addressing the media said that a large number of people were not given the benefits they had been promised. "They have not rejected it altogether, but are not giving it either. They had promised that husbands and wives will be considered as two separate units, but they have not been provided money accordingly. They have not waived off the loans, forest land rights were to be given to people who till the land there, but none have been fulfilled in entirety yet. This, despite the gram sabhas approving their claim and providing evidence in favour of the demands. We had to resort to another march because all other options were exhausted," said Shinde.
"Adivasis were also supposed to get minimum support price for their produce, but they did not," said Prabhakar Narkar of Janta Dal (secular). "They (government) say yes for everything, but do not give anything," said Jyoti Badekar, also from Janta Dal.
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