Cong contests Maha govt's claims on enhanced crop production

On a day the BJP-led government in Maharashtra completed four years in office, the opposition Congress Wednesday contested the ruling dispensation's claims that the crop production had grown in the last four years compared to the output recorded under the previous UPA regime.

State Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant cited the agriculture department's data to claim that the collective crop output from 2010 to 2014 stood at 734.52 lakh tonnes as against 640.55 lakh tonnes recorded during 2014-2018 (under the BJP government).

The Congress-led UPA government had ruled the state for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2014. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power in October 2014.

Increased crop production is one of the achievements listed by the state government commemorating its fourth anniversary in power.

"The Congress government had performed better than the Devendra Fadnavis government in terms of crop production till 2014 (the year when the Bhartiya Janata Party came to power)," said Sawant.

He cited the data provided by the state agriculture department to back his claims.

"The claims made by the state government on enhanced crop production are at variance with the data provided by the agriculture department," he alleged.

As per agriculture department figures, the total crop production stood at 193.26 lakh tonnes during 2013-14 when rainfall was 109 per cent, according to Sawant.

"The present government, which has completed four years in office, is lying when it says in its list of achievements that the crop production stood at 137.91 lakh tonnes and rainfall 124 per cent during 2013-14. The government's claim that the crop production was recorded at 180 lakh tonnes despite 84 per cent rainfall in year 2017-18 also falls flat," said the Congress leader.

Citing the data, Sawant said the production of food grains stood at 144.61 tonnes and that of oil seed at 48.65 lakh in year 2013-14--which comes at 193.26 lakh tonnes.

"Between years 2014 and 2018, the crop production stood at 640.55 lakh tonnes whereas it was 734.52 lakh tonnes between years 2010 and 2014. All these figures are available on the government website, despite that the government is making false claims," he said.

Maharashtra unit BJP president Raosaheb Danve had Tuesday said his party's government has almost doubled the investment in the agriculture sector, compared to the erstwhile UPA government.