Mumbai: In the midst of agrarian crisis faced by farmers in Nashik, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief, Sharad Pawar, visited the Igatpuri and other areas of the district on Friday.
While the leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena are battling over power sharing, the 78-year-old politician is touring the affected the ‘wet drought’ areas to inspect the extent of disaster caused due to the unseasonal rains.
“The farmers said all their crops have been destroyed in the retreating monsoon and have suffered heavy losses. They are faced with questions whether to live or die. The farmers also informed, nobody from the government has visited them,” said Pawar in a tweet.
In a press release statement, the NCP has urged the government to intervene at the earliest. He said, grapes, soya bean, bajra, corn and maize which all have been destroyed.
“The farmers asked us for compensation and loan waiver,” said Pawar. The statement also stated, if the authorities don’t compensate the farmers, then NCP will stand against the government.
Pawar also met government officials at Nashik, who informed, they have not received any orders for compensating the farmers. They further informed, the criteria of compensations are outdated by at least three years and the situation today is completely different to what it was back then.
Farmers at the Gobapur-Kalwan taluka shared their stories with Pawar and said they incurred huge loss of money, which they had spent on harvesting crops. They are now facing severe financial crunch as they have no other income.
In the second phase of his tour, on November 6, Pawar will visit Selu in Parbhani district and Basmat in Hingoli district, to interact with the farmers.
