Nashik: Onion farmers, led by the Prahar Janshakti Party, staged rasta roko for over two hours at the busy Ashok Stambh chowk on Sunday afternoon to protest against the Centres decision to ban onion export.The vehicular traffic was affected in the busy Ashok Stambh areas due to rasta roko.Earlier, hundreds of farmers from Chandwad, Kalwan and Deola taluka had decided to stage an agitation at the residence of the local MP from Dindori and union minister of state for health and family welfare, Bharti Pawar.Farmers started the march on bikes towards Bharti Pawars residence, but the police administration halted them at Ashok Stambh chowk, barricading the road towards the Gangapur Road area.Finally, they staged a rasta roko at Ashok Stambha chowk, demanding that the union minister meet them to hold talks with her on why the Centre imposed a ban on onion export all of a sudden.The farmers decided not to leave the place unless they were allowed to go to Bharti Pawars residence. They also chanted slogans against the central government.Finally, deputy district registrar (DDR) Faiyyaz Mulani and personal assistant (PA) of Bharti Pawar rushed to the spot and tried to convince them. They also informed farmers that Bharti Pawar has gone for the winter session of the parliament to Delhi. DDR Faiyyaz Mulani told agitating farmers that the onion auction did not take place in 13 of 17 APMCs in the district and he has given all the ground reports to the state government.The representatives of Bharti Pawar also tried to convince agitating farmers that the minister was already in talks with the Centre over rolling back the onion export ban, but the farmers were not convinced.Ganesh Nimbalkar, Nashik district president of Prahar Janshakti Party, interacted with Bharti Pawar on mobile phone. Nimbalkar told her about the disappointment of farmers and how they are going to suffer financially due to the wrong decision of the Centre. Now, the Centres decision to ban onion export has also lost their chance of getting some financial relief through the sale of onions. The wholesale onion prices have already crashed and they will suffer huge losses. Moreover, the shelf life of kharif and late kharif onions is only a few days and the produce will rot if it is not sold on time, said Nimbalkar. Pawar informed them about the efforts she was making. She told them that she had already met the union minister of commerce Piyush Goyal, requesting him to reconsider the decision to ban onion export.

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