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Sushil Modi urges Rabri to end Bihar farmers' agitation

The farmers of Bihar, who had launched a non-cooperation movement, have now threatened to commit suicide if the government fails to address problems arising out of altering the River Muhane's course.

Sushil Modi, leader of the opposition in the state assembly, said on Wednesday that over 500,000 farmers were staging a dharna at Kudwa-Ibrahimpur in Gaya where state authorities have blocked the course of the river, a tributary of the Falgu. The two rivers are the main sources for irrigation in Gaya, Jehanabad, and Nalanda districts. "The farmers' anger grew due to the government's apathy," Modi said.

Altering the Muhane's course has driven lakhs of people to penury, as the riverbed has become a desert. The channels constructed by farmers to irrigate their lands have dried up, rendering their fields barren, he said.

Modi, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, declared that he would sit on a 24-hour fast at Kudwa-Ibrahimpur village on November 21.

He urged Chief Minister Rabri Devi and state Water Resources Minister Jagdanand Singh to visit the spot in view of the volatile situation there.

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