3. According to the Market Act, the Market Tax and Entry Fee was to be paid by the traders. But here it was deducted from the amount payable to the farmers. That must stop. 4. Transport cost should not be recovered from the farmers. Just as sugar factories bore the cost of transporting sugarcane from farm to the factory, here also the bidi-makers should bear the cost of transporting tobacco from farm to the market. 5. When farmer sells his tobacco there should be proper receipt for the transaction and a copy of that should be given to the farmer at the time of sale. 6. When the tobacco is brought by the farmer to the Market it should be weighed within seven days. 7. Farmer should be paid his dues within maximum seven days, if not at the time of delivery itself. It was also announced that if these demands were not met within next three weeks, which was before 14 March, the farmers would block Pune-Bangalore highway that passed through Nipani. A letter listing the demands was sent by registered post on the same day to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Union Minister for Food Rao Birendra Singh, Union Minister for Commerce Pranavkumar Mukherjee, Chief Minister of Karnataka Gundu Rao and Chief Minister of Maharashtra Abdul Rehman Antulay. In a way none of the demands was unreasonable but so insensitive and incorrigible was the system that there was not even the acknowledgement of that letter from any of the recipients. In absence of any response, at three in the afternoon on 14 March, the rasta roko started. The actual spot of the blockade was about three kilometers from Nipani town. Smouldering Tobacco in Nipani
Q
143
