Farmers to march to Mumbai to highlight farm woes

Over one lakh farmers are expected to come to Mumbai on March 6 to draw the attention of the Maharashtra government to their issues, Kisan Sabha state secretary Ajit Navale said today.
"Despite the loan waiver announcement, 1,753 farmers have committed suicide in the state. The agriculture sector is going through a bad phase and to draw the attention of the state towards these issues, we have decided to hold a rally with over one lakh farmers marching from Nashik to Mumbai," Navale said.
He said that crops had got destroyed in attacks by pink bollworms and the recent hailstorms in some parts of the state had brought about more losses.

Alleging that financial help from the state was inadequate, Navale said that the government was also adopting an "anti-sugar mill" policy.
"The sugar mills are likely to be affected severely due to low market prices of sugar. The state can intervene in the market but it is not doing so. We want a solution to the issues of both cultivators and sugar mills," he said.