Mumbai: Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi staged a walk out of Maharashtra Assembly on the issue of remuneration to farmers hit by unexpected rains during last few days.
Maharashtra recently saw unseasonal rains which damaged standing crops on 13,729 hectares in 8 districts. Maximum damage has been reported from Palghar, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Dhule, Buldhana and Washim districts.
The Opposition raised the issue of crop damage due to unseasonal rains in the legislative council on Wednesday. Leader of Opposition in the council Ambadas Danve, NCP's Shashikant Shinde and Congress leader Satej Patil unanimously demanded immediate compensation for affected farmers. Justifying their demand, they described the destruction of crops like soybean, wheat, cotton, mango, grape, pomegranate, etc.
Uddhav Sena leader Danve said, “I have never seen unseasonal rains during Holi. This is the time to harvest crops. I have seen wheat crops damaged due to rainfall. Earlier, agricultural produce was not getting proper prices and now unseasonal rains have further added to the woes of farmers.” Similarly, Patil said, “The government should relax the condition that says compensation should not be given to farmers who have sustained less than 33% loss.”
MLC Jayant Patil said, “Farmers from the Konkan region have not received any compensation after the storm. Only an announcement was made but compensation is yet to be given.”
Replying to them, Industries Minister Uday Samant said, “The Maha Vikas Aghadi government had not distributed the money after the storm but the Shinde-Fadnavis coalition has disbursed Rs2,883 crore to the Konkan region while Rs800 crore each was given to Raigad and Ratnagiri districts.”
Rebutting the Opposition, Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil said, “The government has already taken good decisions from farmers' point of view. There is no need to make more relief announcements. The compensation of Rs6,800 per hectare has been increased to Rs10,000. Also, monetary relief for destroyed grapes, mangoes, coconut and betel nut has been increased to maximum of Rs25,000.”
