Widows of farmers and hailstorm hit farmers stage protest

Hundreds widows of farmers and hailstorm hit farmers staged a protest here today, to protest against the apathy of the Maharashtra state government and its bureaucrats towards their plight.
The protestors demanded fresh crop loans, a higher minimum support price at the rate of Rs 6500 per quintal, disbursement of relief aid to all farmers, family pension as well as food security to all widows of farmers and families of farmers who committed suicide since June 2005.
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti president Kishore Tiwari condemned the Maharashtra government for its anti-farmer attitude and said that the ongoing Vidarbha agrarian crisis is the result of 60 years of apathy by the state government and its bureaucrats who have treated the region as its colony since Maharashtra state was formed in 1960.

"Now people want separate statehood for the Vidarbha region to stop the ongoing genocide of farmers and tribals," Tiwari said, while addressing the protest meeting.