Pune: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday staged an agitation at the district collectorate to raise issues of water crises and ignoring farmers’ problems.
Former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and MP Supriya Sule led the march.
The agitators marched from the Zilla Parishad office to the divisional commissioner’s office.
The agitators demanded free seeds and fertilizers for farmers.
Pawar said, “The state government is neglecting farmers.
They are not doing the annewari panchama (assessment of crops) of the areas suffering because of water scarcity.
The government is lacking in planning and the farmers are helpless.” Sule, while speaking to the media after the agitation, said the state government had deceived the farmers.
She said the state government’s flagship programme for irrigation, ‘Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyaan’, proved to be a failure.
“The state government claims that water conservation has improved but the fact is water levels are depleting across the state.
Crores of rupees have been spent on this initiative but still the farmers are facing water crises,” she said.