Govt cannot compensate for losses, farmers should get used to hardship: Pasha Patel

Mumbai: Chairman of the Maharashtra Agricultural Prices Commission Pasha Patel on Saturday said the government can not compensate farmers for the losses due to the recent excess rainfall, and they should get used to such setbacks.

The BJP leader's statement drew a strong reaction from farmer leader Raju Shetti who said the government's anti-farmer policies such as restricting exports of agricultural commodities were responsible for their misfortune.

Speaking to reporters in Dharashiv district, Patel said it was not possible for the government to pay compensation to the farmers hit by the heavy downpour in Marathwada and elsewhere.

"The extent of losses is such that no authority has the capacity to reimburse them fully....the government only provides assistance, which falls short of making up for the losses. Farmers must get used to this hardship; they will have to endure their fate," Patel said.

Owing to increasing vagaries of nature in the form of excess rains, droughts, hailstorms or floods, farmers are facing a crisis 322 out of 365 days of the year, he said.

"We have damaged nature so badly that we are now forced to bear the consequences," he said.

Shetti, a former MP, termed Patel's statement as deeply unfortunate.

"Patel urges farmers to cultivate a mindset for losses and warns them not to depend on the government. But it is precisely the government's interventions that stifle farmers' progress, be it by banning exports when prices rise, hiking taxes or imposing restrictions on commodities like onions, cotton, and sugar.

"Traders profit during downturns, yet when farmers stand to gain, the government throws up roadblocks," he said.

"Why was the import duty on cotton reduced under pressure from the US? Why has sugar export become difficult due to heavy taxation?" the farmer leader asked.

The government does not support farmers during a crisis, and when they have scope to make a profit, it intervenes to deny them the opportunity, said Shetti,

He also referred to the recent suicide of a farmer from Ahilyanagar district who left a note blaming Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' policies.

"The state should feel some shame before making such statements," Shetti said.