Mumbai, Sep 21 (PTI) Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal has demanded Rs 1 lakh per hectare assistance and a complete loan waiver for farmers affected by a severe dry spell across several parts of the state.
Sapkal, who visited farms in Buldhana district on Sunday, accused the state government of delaying financial assistance to farmers through endless meetings while standing crops got destroyed.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis last week said that the government will conduct crop loss surveys after October 5 and assured that the state would provide financial assistance from its own sources while awaiting aid from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
Sapkal alleged that several parts of the state had witnessed deficient rainfall, resulting in crops drying up, and accused the government of delaying decisions by holding meetings and discussions.
“The government should not wait for an auspicious occasion to help farmers facing a crisis,” a party release quoted him as saying.
He alleged that a young farmer in Buldhana had decided to destroy his 20-acre soybean crop damaged in the dry spell and claimed that the cultivator had invited the chief minister and ministers to inspect his fields, but nobody visited.
Sapkal said drought should not be treated as a political issue and the government needed to respond positively to farmers’ distress.
The government’s loan waiver was not benefiting farmers, he said, citing a village in Buldhana where, according to him, only two cultivators figured in the first list and one in the second, with one farmer receiving a mere Rs 40,000.
Sapkal also demanded that funds proposed for the Shaktipeeth Expressway be diverted to provide assistance to farmers, the release stated.
He said that the Congress was holding satyagrahas and protests across villages over the issue and warned of intensifying the agitation if the government failed to announce immediate relief.
Sapkal appealed to distressed farmers not to take extreme steps such as suicide. PTI MR ARU
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