Pandharpur (Maharashtra), Sep 26 NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule on Saturday urged protesting farmers not to inconvenience people by blocking roads and appealed to them to stop the vehicles of those in power over farm loan waivers and other demands.
“Do not block roads used by ordinary people. If you want to block a road, block the vehicles of those in power. What will they do? They may take you to the police station and put you in jail,” Sule said while addressing farmers here.
The NCP (SP) working president said a young woman at the gathering asked her to start a road blockade.
“I told her not to block roads. Young people have enthusiasm and want to try new things. But a road blockade should not trouble the common man. If you block a major road, ordinary people will get stuck, while your leader who is in power will leave by helicopter,” she said.
In a dig at the government, the Baramati MP said she would prefer to go to jail than remain a minister in an insensitive government where ministers eat cashews and pista while people are suffering.
Sule questioned the government’s farm loan waiver-related GR (government resolution) and said farmers had demanded that the loan waiver amount be directly credited to their bank accounts.
“We demanded a complete loan waiver, with the money credited directly to farmers’ accounts. That does not appear in the GR, at least for now,” she said.
Comparing the situation with the Rs 70,000-crore farm loan waiver announced during the Manmohan Singh government when Sharad Pawar was Union Agriculture Minister, she wondered whether a similar complete waiver was visible in the government’s current proposal.
Sule also raised the issue of electricity supply to farmers and said cultivators in some areas were getting power for only three or four hours a day despite Maharashtra having surplus electricity.
“If there is water in the dam but electricity is not available, what will farmers do? And when electricity is available, there may be no water. What will they do with that electricity?” she asked.
Sule demanded that the government waive the fees and mess expenses of children of farmers, saying families are already struggling to meet the cost of education.
She also slammed the government over the alleged leak of the question paper of the MPSC exam.
On the proposed Shaktipeeth Expressway, Sule said the government should reconsider the project if local farmers opposed it and use the funds for farm loan waivers and education.
She said the NCP (SP) and the Maha Vikas Aghadi had demanded a full assembly session to discuss the farm crisis and assured farmers that the opposition alliance would continue to raise their demands.
“Until you are satisfied, until you get a complete loan waiver and your 7/12 records are cleared, the NCP and the Maha Vikas Aghadi will not allow this government to sit comfortably,” the NCP (SP) politician said.
Sule appealed to political parties in Maharashtra to work together to seek financial assistance from the Centre.
She urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to convene a meeting of all Maharashtra MPs so that they could jointly approach the Centre.
Sule said she was not opposed to development projects but maintained that local farmers should have a say in projects affecting their land.
(PTI News)
