After 6 days, farmers call off long march as Shinde govt accepts key demands

J P Gavit, a former MLA of the CPM who led the march from day one, announced Saturday that government officials had reached tehsils and begun taking note of the problems. “We have received reports from Peth, Kalvan, Surgana that tehsil officials and even district collectors are taking note of the problems faced by farmers and have begun action. The government has accepted almost 70 per cent of our demands, and therefore we have decided to call off the long march,” he said.

Gavit, however, maintained that the reports about the compliance of the government order had come only from Nashik district and not from other parts.

On Thursday evening, the farmers’ long march halted at Vasind on the Mumbai-Nashik highway, around 60 km from the Mumbai border. The AIKS leadership had clarified that the march would not move until it got written assurances from the government.

According to government sources, Shinde instructed the Nashik district administration to immediately start implementing the decisions. It was on Friday morning that the AIKS state leadership discussed whether to continue the march. The farmers, the majority of whom had come walking from different parts of Nashik, would now be going back by train.

Gavit said the AIKS had conveyed to the chief minister and the deputy chief minister that until action began on the statement made in the Assembly, nobody would move. “We have been getting reports that revenue and forest officials have reached villages. It is the success of this protest as it had never happened before. We have decided to call off the march only after making sure that action on our demands has begun,” he said.

Shinde announced in the Assembly an increase of Rs 50 per quintal in the subsidy for onion farmers, taking the total aid announced to Rs 350 per quintal. He also said that a committee comprising cabinet ministers, government officials, Gavit and CPM MLA Vinod Nikole would be formed to look into the problems related to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act in the state.

The committee will submit its report within one month. It was also decided to make a law on giving ownership rights of temple land to those who cultivate it. One of the 14 demands raised by the farmers was to put the names of tillers on the records of pieces of forest land up to four hectares. Among other issues to be discussed in the committee are the encroachment of forest land and the transfer of temple trusts’ land and grazing grounds to farmers.

One of the major demands accepted by the government is to include tribals who did not benefit from farm loan waivers announced in June 2017 and December 2019.

The chief minister also said the government had already announced an increase in anganwadi and ASHA workers’ honoraria in the budget presented last week and that an announcement regarding 20,000 vacant posts of anganwadi workers to be filled would also be made.