Farmers end hunger strike in Latur after assurance on release of funds under PM-Kisan scheme

A group of farmers in a village in Maharashtra’s Latur district withdrew their indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday after the local administration assured to release their pending instalments under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan), a sarpanch said.

Farmers from Chilwantwadi village under Nilanga tehsil of the district launched an indefinite hunger strike on Monday in front of the collector office to protest against the district administration for keeping them deprived of benefits under the PM-Kisan scheme. More than 300 cultivators of Chilwantwadi have not received benefits of the scheme for the last five instalments. Their names figure in the list of beneficiaries in another village, Channachiwadi, located adjoining their locality, though their lands fall in the vicinity of Chilwantwadi. Owing to change in the name of their village by the administration, these 300 farmers didn’t get the benefit of the scheme.

To protest against the negligence of the district administration, a group of farmers started the hunger strike. Earlier, they had submitted multiple memorandums to the administration, but their grievances was not addressed. Taking cognisance of the farmers’ protest, the administration assured them to deposit the pending instalments of the scheme to their bank accounts, said sarpanch Dnyanba Mare.

After receiving an assurance letter from the administration, the cultivators withdrew their protest on Tuesday evening, he said.Under the PM-Kisan scheme, eligible farmers are provided with a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each every four months. The fund is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.