Ahmednagar farmers call off strike after meeting Maharashtra CM

Farmers from Puntamba village in Ahmednagar district called off their strike after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured them that the state was taking all measures to prevent an agrarian crisis in the next two months.

Fadnavis made it a point to call the farmers from their village to Mantralaya on Tuesday, where he had an hour-long meeting with them. A delegation of 20 farmers had attended the meeting.

The farmers’ representatives, Dhananjay Dhanawate, Subhash Vahadane and Vijay Dhanavate, told media persons that the meeting with the CM was a positive one.  Dhanwate said that Fadnavis had told the farmers that the state would form a farmers’ committee so that necessary measures are taken.

The chief minister also told the famers to build ‘model villages’ that would be free of an agricultural crisis. These model villages would then be replicated across the state.

 Fadnavis also told the farmers that loan waiver was not the only solution for preventing farmer suicides and apprised them of various measures the government was taking.