Maharashtra: Sharad Pawar joins farmers protest against ban on onion export; demands rollback

Pawar joined the protest of the onion farmers in Maharashtra's Nashik and demanded rollback of the Union government's ban on onion exports till March 31 next year. Pawar said that farmers had already suffered huge losses due to the unseasonal rains and hailstorms adding the ban on export of onions will increase their trouble.

Nashik: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Monday joined a protest by onion farmers in Maharashtra's Nashik district against the ban on the export of the key kitchen staple. Pawar, who joined the protesting onion farmers demanded that the the ban on export of the key kitchen staple be lifted immediately. The BJP led Central government has banned onion exports till March 31 next year in a bid to increase domestic availability of the vegetable and to keep prices in check.

Several farmers staged a 'rasta roko' (road blockade) on the Mumbai-Agra National Highway against the Centre's decision to ban onion exports. Addressing onion growers in Chandwad village of Nashik, Pawar alleged the central government was “ignoring the hard work of farmers and said cultivators need to be united and demand their rights”.

"Nashik can show the way," Pawar said while participating in the protest. Pawar said that he will go to New Delhi on Tuesday and raise the issue with the authorities concerned as well as in the ongoing Parliament session. “The state and Union government have the responsibility to help farmers," he said. Pawar said that during his tenure as Union agriculture minister, he never brought down the onion prices nor banned exports.

"The ban on onion exports should be lifted immediately," he demanded. Pawar said that onion growers are small farmers who toil for a good crop adding farmers have suffered huge losses due to the unseasonal rains and hailstorms. Onion and grape growers are already facing problems, he said adding the ban on export of onions will increase their trouble.

Apart from onion export ban, Pawar said that the decision to stop ethanol production (from sugarcane juice and sugar syrup) was also “dangerous”. Pawar said that the Union government has "anti-farmer" policies. "We were forced to come out on the streets and stage rasta roko so that the government would wake up. This agitation is not only for Chandwad, but for the farmers all over Maharashtra and the whole country,” Pawar said.

He claimed that “those who decide on policies do not care for farmers”. “Changing policies time and again is not good. The country, onion farmers as well as traders have to pay the price for it,” he said. "Everyone should support the farmers, keeping politics aside. Farmers should get justice and their voice should reach the government. A price should be fixed (for purchase of onions by government) and help should be given to farmers. The ban on onion export should be revoked immediately, Pawar said.

Besides Pawar, several activists of the NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), CPM and various farmers' organisations also participated in the agitation held at an intersection on Mumbai-Agra National Highway here. The protesters took out a protest from the Chandwad Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) and reached the highway where they staged 'rasta roko' (road blockade).

The protest also led to disruption of vehicular traffic on the national highway. Police was deployed in strength to prevent any untoward situation. Meanwhile, onion auctions, which were stopped indefinitely in wholesale markets of the district from Saturday, started at most places on Monday. At the Lasalgaon APMC, the country's biggest wholesale onion market, 150 vehicles of onions arrived. The average onion price was Rs 2,200 per quintal, ranging from a minimum of Rs 1,500 per quintal to a maximum of Rs 2,600 per quintal.

Onion auctions also began at Vinchur and Niphad sub-committees of the Lasalgaon APMC on Monday.