Govt must collect 2% of companies' profits for drought: Munde

Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde Wednesday said the state government must collect two per cent of companies' net profits for drought mitigation work.

Munde also alleged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had completely failed in dealing with drought situation in the state.

During a discussion in the Upper House on the drought, the NCP leader said the government must promulgate an ordinance to recover two per cent of profits as CSR from companies registered and operating from the state.

"Apart from waiving the electricity bills of drought-hit farmers, the Centre must give Rs 30,000 crore to the state for giving compensation to the affected farmers," Munde said.

He added that the government has not given powers to tehsildars for supply of water tankers to drought-hit areas.

Instead of waiving exam fees of students in the drought-hit regions, the government must waive their educational fees for the year, he added.

Munde said this year's drought is more severe than that of 1972.

"Kharif crops have been completely lost. There is a drinking water crisis. As there is no drinking water for the cattle now, what will happen in next eight months?" he asked.

"Since the last four years, farmers have been facing problems in various forms like demonetisation, pink bollworm, poor Minimum Support Price (MSP) for pulses and now drought," he said.

He added that 70 per cent places in the state have not received rains since July. "Hence, drought should have been declared much before," Munde said.

According to him, the Centre's drought management manual 2016 was not in the interest of the state.

"I had written to the chief minister suggesting that it should be rejected as was done by many other states. But the government went ahead and accepted it," he claimed.

He alleged that crop insurance was a "big scam".

"In 2016-17, farmers paid a premium of Rs 4,000 crore, but they got Rs 1,900 crore as crop insurance. So, the government has helped the companies to make a profit of Rs 2,000 crore in one year," Munde alleged.

The government must order an audit from the third party into the irregularities and corruption in the Jalyukt Shivar works.

The government will reply to the discussion over the issue on Thursday.