State's relief cannot match our losses, say farmers

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan may have unveiled a relief package worth Rs 1 crore for the farmers affected by the unseasonal rains, but the amount is woefully inadequate to meet the enormity of losses suffered by the farmers, say the farmer leaders.

Standing kharif crops including rice, maize, cotton, soybean and onion crops spread over a million hectares have been severely damaged due to the recent unseasonal rain in Vidarbha, North Maharashtra, Konkan and the rest of the state.

According to estimates by the commissionerate of agriculture, rice, maize, cotton, soybean and onion crops have been hit. Of the million hectares, crops on a fifth of cultivated area have sustained 50 per cent damage, leading to a demand from Opposition parties and others for declaration of a ' wet drought' and hefty compensation to farmers.

Around 13.35 mn hay are covered by the kharif crop. Acting agriculture commissioner Pandurang Watharkar said 19 districts had been hit. The damage was severe in Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Bhandara, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Nashik, Nagpur, Sangli and the Konkan region. Paddy on 130,000 ha has been damaged and then there are other crops like cotton, soyabean, tur and the amount of damage becomes mind- boggling.

Leader of opposition Eknath Khadse told us that the government was not interested in the welfare of the farmers. " This government does not work for the protection of the interest of the farmers; it is in opposition to their interest. They do not want to work for the farmer; that's why we walked out of the House during the debate," said Khadse.

Farmers are not much enthused by the package and raise doubt over the parameters of compensation since the assessment of damage is yet to begin at the grassroots level. However, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan feels that the amount is enough to cover the damage and feels that the opposition has miscalculated the damange.

" According to the figures we have, around 5, 44, 000 hectares of land was affected in the rains and the amount of loss is more than 50 percent," he said. Commenting on the opposition allegation that the relief amount is very less, he said that it is sufficient and opposition miscalculated the figures. " If you divide Rs. 1000 crores by 5, 00, 000 hectares you get Rs. 20,000. However, it does not mean that everyone will get Rs. 20,000; I just want to say it is not Rs. 2000," added Chavan.