The protest by Maharashtra farmers over appropriate price for their produce will continue in a different format, leaders of the group said after meeting Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.

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The delegation that met the CM and the deputy CM said that the meeting ended on a positive note. The delegation claimed that the government has said that it will fulfill the protesting farmers' demands.

Chief Minister Shinde sounded positive after the meeting. "There was a detailed discussion and it was positive. There will be a statement on this in the Legislature (on Friday)," he told reporters later.

The farmers' leaders have said that the protest will continue until the government issues a GR (government resolution), announces it in the assembly, and starts the implementation.

Now the format of the protest will be different. Instead of walking to Mumbai, the farmers will sit on a dharna and continue the protest from Igdah maidan, Vashind on Mumbai-Nashik highway, around 60 kms from Mumbai.

The foot march, which started from Nashik district four days ago, has entered the Thane district neighbouring Mumbai.

India is the second largest producer of onions at around 24 million tonnes annually and Maharashtra alone accounts for more than half of the produce.

A glut has caused the price of the kitchen staple to crash so much that farmers are refusing to take their produce till the market as they would not able to recover costs of production and transport.

Farmers are demanding Rs 600 per quintal of onion and remunerative prices for other crops like cotton, soybean, tur, cauliflower, and green gram, which have seen a crop damage or reduction in prices due to unseasonal rains.

Also read:

Not just onion: Bumper harvest, low prices for veggies force Maharashtra’s farmers to destroy crops

(Edited by : Pradeep John)

First Published:Mar 16, 2023 10:00 PM IST