Maharashtra govt sanctions Rs 10,000-cr immediate aid for rain-hit farmers

The Maharashtra government on Saturday approved Rs 10,000 crore as a special provision to provide immediate assistance to farmers affected by unseasonal rains.

The decision was taken by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the meeting of a Cabinet sub-committee held at his official residence to discuss the losses. As per initial evaluation, crops on 54.22 lakh hectares spread across 325 talukas in at least half dozen districts have been damaged. The damaged crops include jawar, paddy, cotton and soyabean.

Ministers of the BJP and allies Chandrakant Patil, Girish Mahajan, Subhash Deshmukh, Anil Bonde, Sadabhau Khot, Suresh Khade, Mahadev Jankar were present at the meeting.

Vijay Shivtare, the Minister of State for Water Resources and Water Conservation, was the only representative from the Shiv Sena who attended the meet. The BJP and the Sena are currently at loggerheads over sharing of power in the new government. At the meeting, the CM directed the officials concerned to review the ground situation in their respective areas and finalise the details of the assistance to be provided.

"It was also decided to provide help to farmers through insurance companies. The government is in touch with insurance companies. The process of conducting 'panchnamas' (on-the-spot assessment of crops) is being expedited and mobile photographs have been permitted.

"We will approach the Centre for help. But, in the meantime the state government will disburse funds from its treasury without waiting for the Central assistance," the chief minister told reporters.

Meanwhile, the government has amended the Government Resolution (GR) and the word "unseasonal rains" is incorporated along with "heavy rains".