Techie & brother’s hunger strike for farm road ends

Kolhapur: Retired accountant Raosaheb Magdum has been running from pillar to post for several years now to get a 600m access road to his farm in Shirol tehsil built. The end to his family’s problems now seems to be in sight. On Friday, the third day of the hunger strike by his two sons — 25-year-old Pune-based software engineer Rohan Magdum, and 31-year-old Rahul Magdum, an employee at a private firm — the family got an “in writing” assurance about the access road from the officials. The brothers then ended their strike.By Friday, their health had also started deteriorating. Doctors said their oxygen level and blood pressure were both low. Several local farmers also joined the brothers in Kolhapur district’s Nandni village.“During monsoons, the road gets extremely slushy. It is nearly impossible to access our farm or other farms nearby during those four months,” said the techie, who has been working at a multinational company for the past four years. “Often, farmers either get stuck in the mud or slip on the road. This causes injuries and fractures. My father’s legs were broken twice in recent years after he slipped and fell. My grandmother had also fallen on this stretch earlier,” he said.On Friday evening, block development officer (BDO) Shankar Kavitke accepted the brothers’ demands and promised, in writing, that the formalities will end by March 10 and the road will be built soon after.Access roads to farms are vital for farmers who harvest crops during the monsoon. Farmers use these roads to access their farmlands as well as bring out the produce and take the same to the nearest markets for sale.“The road towards our farm was sanctioned a year ago and funds of Rs 24 lakh were approved,” said Rohan. “However, authorities continued to claim that it was delayed as the estimation and design of the road were not completed. It is simply unfathomable that the work is not done though the funds are available,” he said.On Wednesday, the first day of the hunger strike, local MLA Rajendra Patil-Yadravkar called up Rohan and promised that the road will be built soon. The gram panchayat and tehsil officials also visited them and said a proposal has been forwarded to zilla parishad to speed up the process. Collector Rahul Rekhawar said he had asked local authorities to resolve the issue.