NASHIK/MUMBAI: The state succeeded in making the leaders of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) call off their long march after 20,000 farmers, many of them landless peasants and tribals, had set off for Mumbai from the MSRTC bus terminus here on Thursday, the second day of the protest.Water resources minister Girish Mahajan and tourism minister Jay Kumar Raval met the AIKS leaders for over five hours in the evening at Ambebahula, around 15 km from here. The ministers held discussions over the issues raised by the farmer leaders, finally giving a written assurance that the government would look at settling the issues positively.The farmers had halted their march to allow the meeting to happen following a request from the government. In the meeting, the AIKS leaders discussed each of the 15 demands raised by them. “We discussed all our demands in detail with the ministers,” Ajit Navle, AIKS state secretary, said.Late in the evening, the march, which had begun at 10 am and aimed to arrive in Mumbai on Wednesday amid the Budget Session of the legislature, was called off.Mahajan said the government had decided to resolve issues related to the Forest Rights Act, which chiefly concern tribals fighting for claim on lands tilled by them for years. The announcement came as a balm on a day when reports came in about the Supreme Court telling states to evict over 11 lakh claimants to forest lands whose ownership applications under the act had been rejected by states across the country.Organisers said they would review the status of their demands after two months.The government said farmers who took a loan in 2016-17 may be considered for waiver, pension under various schemes for the elderly, homeless and orphans would be increased, and the cut-off date may be made 2019 for wheat and rice at subsidised rates under the Antyoday scheme. “We assured the farmers that we would discuss the issues with CM Fadnavis and will try to fulfil them in three months,” Mahajan said.On Wednesday, too, Mahajan had held a meeting with the AIKS leaders for two-and-a-half hours. The long march was originally supposed to start from Nashik about 6 pm on Wednesday but was delayed as a result of the talks with Mahajan.

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