Days after a farmer sent Rs 1,064 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after earning it by selling 750 kg of onions, another onion grower in Maharashtra has registered his protest against farm crisis by sending Rs 6 to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Shreyas Abhale, a farmer from Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district has sent the amount via a money order to the chief minister as a mark of protest. Due to bumper production of onion in Maharashtra this year, farmers are forced to sell them at throwaway price.
News agency PTI reported that Abhale had to sell 2,657 kg onions at the rate of Rs 1 per kg at a local wholesale market. The report said that after paying the market expenses and labour charges, the farmer was left with only Rs 6. Angered over this, he sent the paltry amount to the chief minister.
“I earned Rs 2,916 when I brought 2,657 kg of onion to Sangamner wholesale market. After making payment of labour charges and transportation charges at Rs 2,910, I was left with just Rs 6,” Abhale told PTI.
Abhale said he had spent nearly Rs 2 lakh for the onion crop this year and earned Rs 6. “I do not know how I am going to clear other dues,” he said.
Abhale sent the money order to the chief minister on December 7, the day he sold his produce at the wholesale market.
Recently, another onion grower, Sanjay Sathe, from Niphad taluka in Nashik district sent his earnings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark his protest after he was forced to sell his produce for little over Rs 1 per kg.
The farmer, Sanjay Sathe, had donated Rs 1,064 he had received after selling 750 kg of onions to the Disaster Relief Fund of the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) through a money order.
Two onion farmers from Nashik district have allegedly committed suicide in the last two days, apparently due to indebtedness and low rates commanded by the bulb in markets.
Meanwhile, a farmer from Nevasa taluka in Ahmednagar district has distributed 20 quintals of onions for free and put up a flex board in Marathi sarcastically thanking the Union and state governments for “keeping onion prices very low”.
The farmer Popatraon Wakchowre, who hails from Punatgaon village, brought the onion to a weekly market Sunday along with the flex board.
“I am deeply hurt because of this government’s policies and a little concern it has towards our plight. In the last four years, we hardly got better rates for our produce,” Wakchowre said.
“I am stooped to the level of a beggar because of this government. I own some agriculture land but I have to seek donation to clear my dues. I cannot repay just by selling my produce,” he said.
[“source-indiatoday”]
