Maha govt to give freebies to drought-affected farmers: CM Fadnavis

Mumbai, Sep 30 (IANS) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday that there is no concept of wet drought but announced that the state government will provide the same freebies offered during the drought, especially to farmers in the state.

The Chief Minister added that the state Cabinet took extensive review of the damage caused to agriculture and other properties due to heavy rains and floods in Marathwada and other parts of the state.

He said that the preliminary estimates show that about 60 lakh hectares of agriculture has been affected due to torrential rains and floods in the state.

“There is a continuous demand for wet drought but in the manual there is no mention of wet drought anywhere. Until today a wet drought has never been declared. However, the Cabinet today took a decision whereby the government will provide sops and concessions to the affected ones which are given during drought. The government will implement similar measures to provide relief to farmers considering the drought-related shortage. Now that all these damage figures are being collected, the complete compilation will take place in the next two to four days,” the Chief Minister added.

He said that by next week the state government will make an announcement with regard to relief package to farmers of the state.

Chief Minister Fadnavis added that the state government has already started the disbursement of Rs 2,215 crore to farmers, adding that the money will be directly deposited in the accounts of the affected farmers before Diwali.

He declared that while providing this assistance, the e-KYC condition has been relaxed.

Chief Minister Fadnavis’ announcement comes when Opposition Shiv Sena-UBT, Congress and the NCP-SP have demanded that the state government should declare wet drought and provide a financial assistance of Rs 50,000 per hectare.

The Opposition has also urged Governor Acharya Devvrat to convene a three-day special session of the State Legislature to discuss the impact of the monsoon fury and the financial assistance to be urgently provided to the farmers and other citizens.

Chief Minister Fadnavis last week submitted separate memorandums to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding substantial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

The Chief Minister told Union Minister Shah that the Maharashtra government needs maximum relief allocation from the NDRF to provide adequate assistance to affected farmers and help rebuild their livelihood.

Maximum assistance from the NDRF will help loss/land damage, livelihood assistance for flood-affected families, assistance for damaged houses and help for damaged properties, he said.

A detailed proposal regarding assistance for flood-affected agricultural land is being sent to the Central government, he added.

He expressed deep concern about the situation arisen due to heavy rains and floods in many districts of Maharashtra, saying that it has caused unprecedented damage to agricultural land and severely impacted the livelihoods of lakhs of farmers across the state.

–IANS

sj/khz