Bollworm-hit cotton growers to be compensated: Devendra Fadnavis

Nagpur: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday assured the state Assembly that every cotton grower affected by the recent pink bollworm attack in Vidarbha and the rest of  Maharashtra would be given proper compensation.

Locked in a marathon debate on the issue, which was raised by Anil Bonde of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Opposition leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Ajit Pawar and others, Mr Fadnavis said the government would ensure that the all farmers affected would  get compensation from crop insurance, compensation from seed companies concerned andmoreover from the state government. “We are working in this direction and will come out with the package before the end of the session,” heasserted. However, the Opposition members, led by Vikhe-Patil, Prithviraj Chavan and others were not in a mood to listen the government and insisted that the government should announce at least `25,000 compensation for every acre to the bollworm-hit cotton growers.

Uproarious and noisy scenes prevailed in the house when the state agriculture minister Pandurang Fundkar informed the Lower House that the government would not be able to announce the exact figure of compensation as detailed reports of damages of cotton crops were yet to come.

Opposition members have been disrupting the state legislature for the last three days on the issue of pink bollworm and sought a debate on it.

 The Opposition claimed that the BJP-led government had failed to resolve farmers’ issues and the government was not acting to save the cotton crop.