BJP holds statewide rasta roko for cotton price hike

In Jamner town of Jalgaon district in north Maharashtra, protesters stoned four buses and tried to set one aflame. In Parli in Beed district, BJP MLA Pankaja Munde led the protest, seeking hike in cotton price.

In Mumbai, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale took up cudgels on the behalf of cotton farmers and led a symbolic 'funeral procession' of the government, from Shivaji Park to Chaityabhoomi in Dadar area.

Cotton farmers are demanding a fixed export policy, claiming that decisions to ban cotton export are arbitrary and engineered to benefit private traders.

The cultivators want the government to raise the minimum support prices from Rs 3,300 to over Rs 6,000 per quintal.

Maharashtra produces 70 per cent of the country's cotton, but its cotton-producing regions are infamous for farmer suicides. Farmers say middlemen are eating into their profits.