Nashik: Traffic on the Mumbai-Agra National Highway was severely affected for more than an hour on Monday afternoon due to the rasta roko agitation by the NCPs Sharad Pawar faction.The party workers had set up a stage on the Agra-Mumbai lane of the highway, and the party supremo Sharad Pawar sat on the dais.Initially, the protesting farmers took out a march from the Chandwad APMC to the Chandwad square on Mumbai-Agra highway along with Sharad Pawar, NCP office-bearers and activists.Activists and office-bearers of Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) also joined the march and rasta roko.The rasta roko later morphed into a public rally where Sharad Pawar addressed the farmers. As a result, vehicular movement on both sides of the national highway was affected. There were long queues of vehicles stranded on both sides and it took almost one and a half hours for vehicular movement to resume. Police administration had deployed bandobast on both sides.During his address to the farmers, Pawar said his intention was not to cause inconvenience to the motorists by staging a rasta roko, but he wanted to send a strong message to the Centre, and let it know of the distress of onion farmers.We also published the following articles recentlyOnion farmers stage rasta roko for 2 hrs at busy Ashok StambhOnion farmers, led by Prahar Janshakti Party, staged a rasta roko to protest against the ban on onion export. The farmers demanded a meeting with Bharti Pawar, the union minister, to discuss the sudden ban. The farmers were informed that Pawar was in talks with the Centre to lift the ban. However, the farmers expressed disappointment over the financial losses they would incur due to the ban. The shelf life of kharif and late kharif onions is short, and the farmers fear the produce will rot if not sold soon.Onion farmers stage protest on Mumbai-Agra Highway over Centres ban on exportsHundreds of onion farmers blocked the Mumbai Agra Highway in Maharashtras Nashik district to protest the ban on onion exports. The ban, imposed by the Centre, aims to increase domestic availability and control prices. Protests have been ongoing at onion markets in Nashik for several days, leading to the closure of operations. The farmers blocked the highway using tractors at three locations. The police appealed for peace, and no force was used. In October, the government sold buffer onion stock at a subsidized rate to alleviate consumer burden.Onion farmers protest on Mumbai-Agra Highway over Centres ban on exportsOnion farmers in Maharashtras Nashik district blocked the Mumbai-Agra Highway to protest the governments decision to ban onion exports. The protests have led to the closure of onion markets in several areas. The Nashik police peacefully dispersed the protestors. Previously, the government had sold buffer onion stock at a subsidized rate and imposed a minimum export price and export duty on onions to regulate prices.

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