Pune: An indefinite sit-in protest by drought-hit farmers in Akole, Ahilyanagar district, which began on Thursday, will continue until Oct 26, after the All India Kisan Sabha warned of a statewide vehicle march to Mumbai if govt fails to meet their key demands.Their key demands include more than Rs 5,000 in drought relief, immediate payment of crop insurance, a Rs 2 lakh waiver for farmers who have regularly repaid loans, land rights for cultivators and resuming financial assistance under the Ladki Bahin scheme.Maharashtra govt had announced interim financial help of Rs 5,000 to farmers in drought-hit areas before Diwali. The plan has been criticised by the opposition as too little and too late. A farmer from Dharashiv, while protesting the move, had sent a Rs 5,000 money order to the CM.Ashok Dhawale, national president of All India Kisan Sabha, told TOI, “Under the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana, every farmer gets Rs 6,000 per year from state. The state has already defaulted on two instalments of Rs 2,000 each of this scheme. Then they announced Rs 5,000 as an advance on drought relief. It essentially means they are only paying Rs 1,000 extra on an amount that should have already been paid as drought relief.”“We are protesting because this is a cruel joke govt has been playing on the farmers. How is a farmer supposed to live on Rs 5,000? They should start disbursing funds according to the panchanamas of the crop loss to the respective farmers instead of a pittance,” said Dhawale, adding that around 7,000 farmers and workers were present on Thursday at the rally, which was organised by the AIKS, CITU, AIDWA and DYFI.Memoranda and thousands of individual applications were submitted to the tehsildar. The Kisan Sabha warned that if govt fails to take concrete decisions by Oct 26, hundreds of farmers from across the state will depart from Akole to Mumbai to seek action on their demands. “If govt doesn’t speak with the farmers, about 15,000 farmers in around 1,000 vehicles will travel to the CM’s bungalow on Oct 26 as protest,” said Dhawale.
