Aurangabad: BJP MLA Haribhau Badge on Sunday hit out at the Maharashtra government, alleging that it extended inadequate help to the flood-hit farmers.
Addressing a press conference here, former assembly speaker Badge curtly remarked, “Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s corrupt and negligent management has devastated the state farmers. The government is rubbing salt on the wounds of the farmers by giving them little help.”
He further said, “Before coming to power, Uddhav Thackeray and Ajit Pawar had demanded an aid of Rs 50,000 per hectare for the farmers. The coalition government recently announced a Rs 10,000 crore aid package for farmers affected by heavy rains.”
“Earlier in July, a package of Rs 11,500 crore was announced for those affected by floods and rains. Of this, Rs 7,000 crore is for long term measures and Rs 3,000 crore is for reconstruction and rehabilitation. This means that only Rs 1,500 crore was provided for flood and flood victims,” he averred.
He pointed out, “Across Marathwada, Vidarbha and some parts of western Maharashtra, over 50 lakh hectares of crops were destroyed due to heavy rains. At the same time, thousands of hectares of land were eroded, animals were carried away, and houses collapsed. The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress leadership, which had observed a shutdown in Maharashtra for farmers in Uttar Pradesh, could not find time to visit the farmers in the state who were suffering from natural calamities.”
He continued, “Even the farmers’ loan waiver, which was announced with great fanfare, could not be implemented by the alliance government. The alliance government has allocated only Rs 150 crore for debt waiver. More than 30 lakh farmers in the state have not taken out crop insurance this year as the alliance government has created favourable conditions for crop insurance companies.”
“When the government led by Devendra Fadnavis was in power, in the year 2019-20, about 85 lakh farmers had received compensation through crop insurance,” he underlined.
