Maharashtra farmer gets Rs 216 for 545 kg onions, sends earnings to CM

After a farmer sent his meagre earnings from the sale of onions in the wholesale market to the Prime Minister, another farmer in Nashik district of Maharashtra has adopted the same mode of protest.

Chandrakant Bhikan Deshmukh, resident of Andarsul in Yeola tehsil, has sent a money order of Rs 216 to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

He got this princely amount after selling 545 kg of onions at the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Yeola in an auction on December 5, Deshmukh said Friday.

The rate he got was 51 paise per kg, and was paid Rs 216 after deducting APMC's charges, he said, showing the sale receipt.

"There is a drought-like situation in my area. How I am supposed to run my house and repay my loans with these paltry earnings?" he said, speaking to reporters.

"I did not get good price though my onions were of good quality. So I sent Rs 216 to Maharashtra chief minister in protest," he said.

Nashik district in north Maharashtra accounts for nearly half the onion production in the country.

Earlier, another farmer from the district, Sanjay Sathe from Niphad tehsil, had sent his earnings of Rs 1,064 for 750 kg of onions to the Prime Minister's Office by way of protest.