By IANS
Yavatmal (Maharashtra) : President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who is demitting office next month, will on Friday lend a sympathetic ear to the widows of distressed farmers in Vidarbha region who committed suicide in recent times.
Led by Kamlabai Gosawi Pawar of Kolzari village of this suicide-prone district, whose husband ended his life in May 2006, and Saraswati Amberwar of village Telangtakli, whose husband and son committed suicide in December 1998, a delegation of widows will submit a memorandum on the agrarian crisis in Vidarbha to Kalam as he arrives here from Nagpur.
Permission for the meeting, which the state government had earlier refused for security reasons, was granted Thursday evening, apparently to avert an embarrassing situation that a threatened black-flag demonstration before Kalam could have caused.
The delegation will be accompanied by the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti leader (VJAS) Kishor Tiwari and his close associates, who are consistently highlighting the acute agrarian crisis and suggesting remedial measures.
The sordid saga of farmers' suicides in Vidarbha, which started in 2001 (49 suicides), peaked in 2006 when 1,186 farmers under financial distress preferred to end their lives. In 2007, there have been 435 suicides so far.
During the one-day tour of Vidarbha, Kalam will visit 'Prernasthal', the memorial of late freedom fighter Jawaharlal Darda, and attend the golden jubilee function of the Amolakchand Mahavidyalaya here.
The president will visit Mahatma Gandhi's Sewagram Ashram and Acharya Vinoba Bhave's Pavnar Ashram near Wardha. He will also address the students of the World Hindi University and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Sewagram.
After the daylong programme in Wardha, he will visit the National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) in Nagpur before flying back to Delhi.