Rs 4,714 crore approved for Maharashtra farmers

Mumbai: Just ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Central government on Tuesday released Rs 4,714 crore for drought-affected farmers in Maharashtra. Last week, the state government had announced the disbursal of Rs 2,900 crore for drought relief. The Centre’s financial aid is the highest aid doled out during the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s regime.

When Eknath Khadse was the relief and rehabilitation minister, the Centre had released Rs 3,049 crore for farmers’ relief. Meanwhile, the opposition congress party took a dig on chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over approval of the less Central grant for tackling drought in the state.

Congress state president Ashok Chavan said that Mr Fadnavis is still perusing the Rs 7,000 crore drought assistance (being sought) from the Centre. It is only now that the Union government has assured assistance in two to three phases for the purpose.

It seems that the BJP-led government at the centre took a serious cognisance of the furiousness of the farmers in Madya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The centre had released the financial aid before the general election to woo the farmers in Maharashtra.  

Home minister Rajnath Singh led a high-level committee sanctioned the additional central assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund of Rs 7,214.03 crore to six states including Maharashtra and one Union territory in a meeting, which was attended by finance minister Piyush Goel and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh.