Nashik: While the State Government’s budget session was underway, angry onion growers staged a dramatic “Sholay-style” protest by climbing atop a water tank in the onion auction yard of the Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee to draw the attention of the government to their demands.
On Friday morning, onion auctions began at the Lasalgaon APMC yard. As onion prices crashed to nearly ₹1,000 per quintal, agitated onion farmers, along with Shiv Sena (UBT) Niphad taluka chief Shiva Surase, Chhava Krantiveer Sena’s Gorakh Sant and Navnath Vairal, and Shiv Sena (UBT) members Santosh Pangavhane and Abhijit Dukre, climbed the water tank and raised slogans against the Central and State governments.
The protest created a major stir in the market committee premises.
Speaking during the protest, Shiva Surase demanded that the government implement the price difference compensation scheme, conduct an inquiry into onion procurement through NAFED, ensure that NAFED directly purchases onions at the market committee, and provide remunerative prices to farmers based on production costs. He also urged the government to immediately intervene in the market to halt the falling prices and announce concrete financial assistance for onion growers.
During the protest, Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, former Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate, MLA Dilip Bankar, MLA Rahul Aher, and MP Bhaskarrao Bhagare held telephonic discussions with the protesters and assured them that the onion issue would be raised at both the state and central levels. They appealed to the protesters to withdraw the agitation. Respecting their request, as well as appeals from Market Committee Vice-Chairman Lalit Darekar, Secretary Narendra Wadhavane, Niphad Tehsildar Vishal Naikwade, and Lasalgaon Police Station Senior Police Inspector Deepak Patil, the protesters temporarily suspended the agitation. However, they warned that if the government fails to take serious note of the situation, a larger-scale agitation will be launched in the coming days.
