A day after visuals of a Maharashtra farmer tying himself to a plough because he couldn’t afford a tractor or bullocks went viral, another video from Satara’s Karad region is making rounds on social media, highlighting the continued plight of farmers in the state.
Due to heavy rains in Satara district, small bridges have been submerged, and water has flooded fields and streams, causing serious damage to crops. In Khatav taluka, the absence of a bridge over the Vetan Odha on the Pusegaon-Phaltan road has left farmers in Katewadi Shivar struggling. Rising water levels in the Ner lake have forced them to wade through chest-deep water to save their stored onions.
In a desperate effort to save their produce, farmers spent ₹90 per bag and hired 14 labourers, who risked their lives to retrieve the onions from nearly 400 feet away. With farming machinery and bullocks unusable due to the waterlogged fields, sowing is now being done manually.
Farmers are urging authorities to build a bridge over the Vetan Odha to prevent such hardships in the future.
Farmer suicides in state
Meanwhile, more than 700 farmers have ended their lives in the state in the first three months of this year, claimed Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar as he moved an adjournment motion seeking a discussion on the issue.
Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly twice staged a walk-out on Wednesday over the issues of farmer suicides and non-payment to soybean cultivators whose crop was procured by government agencies.
"Every day, farmers are dying by suicide, and yet the government remains indifferent. From January to March this year, 767 farmers committed suicide. Of these, 200 cases were declared ineligible for aid (to the kin of the deceased), while inquiries in 194 cases are still pending," Wadettiwar said.
