Maharashtra onion growers’ representatives urge the state government to respond with the same urgency to rain-affected farmers as it does to public inconvenience caused by traffic disruptions. The Maharashtra State Onion Growers’ Association, in a statement by president Bharat Dighole, says farmers repeatedly face financial losses from natural calamities such as excessive rains, hailstorms, unseasonal showers, floods and drought, alongside crop diseases and transport problems.
The association argues that when major disruptions occur—citing heavy rains and incidents that affect city and highway movement, including recent landslides on the Mumbai–Pune expressway—attention and action are immediate. By contrast, it says compensation, support and focus for farmers dealing with crop damage and subsequent price crashes are often delayed or not comparable in scale.
Dighole adds that the combination of weather-related losses and falling onion and crop prices can wipe out earnings worth “lakhs of rupees” in a short period, even as farmers continue production. The growers’ body asks the government to prioritise relief and measures for those losses.
