Onion farmers block Pune-Ahmednagar highway

Onion farmers block Pune-Ahmednagar highway
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

PUNE, MARCH 17: Vehicular traffic on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway came to a standstill for half an hour when a large number of onion cultivators staged a raasta roko at Shikrapur on Thursday morning, to press their demand that the State Government start purchasing onions.

No untoward incident was reported. The Pune rural police had deployed a massive posse of policemen to ensure peace during the agitation. Traffic limped to normal after the police detained 172 protestors and whisked them away. The detained agitators were released later in the afternoon.

The onion cultivators from various parts of Shirur taluka have come together under the banner of Shirur Taluka Shetkari Sangharsha Samiti to protest against the State Government's decision to stop purchasing onion. The decision to stage a raasta roko was taken at a meeting of the samiti held at Shikrapur on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, the onion cultivators had staged a raasta roko at Chakan on the Pune-Nashik Road. As many as 165 persons were arrested during the agitation at Chakan.