Maharashtra Opposition demands declaration of wet drought

Opposition party Maha Vikas Aghadi urged the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government to declare wet drought in parts of the state as heavy rains have caused huge damage to the crops, particularly in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra.

Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Ajit Pawar of NCP, his counterpart in Council Ambadas Danve of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and state Congress president and former Speaker Nana Patole had demanded that wet drought be declared in affected parts of the state.

Top MVA leaders have also toured the Vidarbha and Marathwada region, visited the affected places and spoke to farmers.

Also read: Waterlogging in parts of Bengaluru after heavy rains

The demand comes amid heavy loss of Kharif crops during the Rabi season which is in jeopardy due to heavy rains and floods in some parts of the state.

“Farmers are in dire financial straits. Soil has been washed away due to rain in many places of the state and houses have collapsed on a large scale. Immovable properties have also been extensively damaged due to heavy rains,” Pawar, a former four-time Deputy Chief Minister, told Shinde.

Pawar requested the state government to go beyond the criteria of the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and help out the farmers.

“In some parts of the state, including Vidarbha and Marathwada, there was heavy rain for which the standing crops of the fields were lost. Soyabean, cotton, tur, maize were lost. Orchards and leafy vegetables have also been affected by this rain, livestock also suffered loss. The state government ordered a field survey but the reality is that the administration is not working at the ground level,” said Patole.

“Officials are not coming to conduct panchanamas. Whatever surveys were done, those did not take all the factors into account. The state government announced increased assistance, which too is meagre and the farmers have not even received that yet,” he said.