Sharad Pawar's visit to Vidarbha disappointing, says farmers' group

A farmers' advocacy group today termed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's recent tour to Vidarbha as "disappointing" for cotton farmers, saying he ignored their main demands.

Farmers' widows had waited for Pawar to come and listen to their woes but it did not happen, Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti president Kishore Tiwari said in a release issued here.

He ignored the farmers' main demands such as a higher minimum support price (MSP) for cotton and fresh bank credit to all defaulter farmers, Tiwari alleged.

Crop failed in several acres of land, while roads and bridges were damaged on a large scale, needing urgent repairs, but the state government has not submitted its final assessment report so far, the release said.

Pawar had been on a three-day visit to the excess rain-hit Vidarbha region.