Onion farmers to stage rail roko

General secretary of the sanghatana, Laxman Pagar, who submitted a memorandum to District Collector Amitabh Joshi, has demanded action against the traders for Monday’s flash strike at Lasalgaon. Pagar has also demanded that the traders’ licences at the Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) be revoked and compensation be paid to the farmers, who suffered losses due to the sudden stir.

According to the sanghatana, about 500tractor-trailer loads (each containing 30 quintals) of onions lined up for auction on Monday had to be turned back. The farmers, consequently, had to bear detention charges of Rs 400 per tractor. Besides the detention led to the quality of onions deteriorating. Lasalgaon is the biggest onion marketyard in the country, handling about 40 lakh quintals of the crop per annum worth about Rs 110 crore. The rail roko at Lasalgaon is likely to cripple traffic on the Central Railway as well.

Apart from the traders’ boycott, farmers have been sore over the plummeting onion prices, which are bordering on the break-even level of Rs 300 per quintal. The farmers are also demanding a minimum support price of Rs 500 per quintal.