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Business News/ Politics / News/  Maharashtra to get 4,714 cr drought relief
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Maharashtra to get ₹4,714 cr drought relief

The assistance for Maharashtra comes against the demand of ₹7,962 crore sought by the Devendra Fadnavis government 
  • Last October, the Fadnavis government had declared medium to severe drought in 180 tehsils of the state
  •  (Photo: PTI)Premium
    (Photo: PTI)

    MUMBAI : The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday declared drought relief assistance of 4,714.28 crore for Maharashtra and 949.49 crore for Karnataka, Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh announced on Twitter.

    The decision, which comes just a few months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to be held in April or May, has already prompted politicians and political parties firing at each other.

    The assistance for Maharashtra comes against the demand of 7,962 crore sought by the Devendra Fadnavis government in December last year from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). Fadnavis, on his Twitter handle, said the assistance “shows the firm commitment of the Union government towards the citizens of Maharashtra". However, the opposition Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were quick to point out that the relief granted was barely 50% of what Maharashtra had sought.

    “This is barely 50% of what Maharashtra had asked for and that too in December. The situation has worsened today and we do not even know if this amount will be released before the elections. I think it is just going to remain one of the many announcements this government has made," said Maharashtra Congress chief and former chief minister Ashok Chavan soon after the relief was announced.

    The Fadnavis government had failed to secure the quantum of assistance it had demanded from the centre, said NCP leader and leader of the opposition Dhananjay Munde. “We had demanded that farmers and horticulturists be given direct financial assistance of 50,000 per hectare and 1 lakh per hectare, respectively. But the centre has rejected this demand too."

    Last October, the Fadnavis government had declared medium to severe drought in 180 tehsils of the state after a government agency report said that these tehsils faced more than 50% deficit in their average annual rainfall in 2018. In November, the state government carried out a ground inspection, mandated by the centre’s drought manual, to declare 151 tehsils spread over 26 districts, and accounting for nearly 60% of Maharashtra, drought-hit. It affected nearly 8.5 million farmers and 8.6 million hectares of cultivable land in Maharashtra. In the same month, Maharashtra presented a demand of 7,522 crore to the centre, but sent a revised demand in December for 7,962 crore after districts in north Maharashtra reported further damage to crops because of a deficit in rainfall. A central team visited the drought-hit parts of Maharashtra in the first week of December and the state government submitted its revised demand to this team. A substantial amount of the assistance sought— 7,100 crore—was demanded as compensation for loss of crop and the remaining was sought for providing cattle fodder and water supply to the affected villages.

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    Published: 30 Jan 2019, 12:11 AM IST
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