MUMBAI: Maharashtra agriculture minister Sadabhau Khot faced the wrath of farmers in Yeotmal on Wednesday when he visited some of them who are recuperating in hospital from the hazardous effects of pesticides.
One farmer tried to spray pesticide on the minister but was thwarted by the police and arrested. The farmer, named Sikandar Shah, is learnt to be a local leader of the Shetkari Varkari Sanghatan.
Over 750 farmers have been admitted to hospitals with health effects due to pesticide use in five districts of Vidarbha since last month. Nineteen of them have died while some lost their eyesight.
While farmer unions have blamed the state government, pesticide companies say the farmers have been pesticides improperly.
Some farmers complained to Sadabhau Khot that insecticide companies have been unethical practices to dump harmful pesticides on them. Khot assured them that the government has taken note of such practices.
Sensing the anger among farmers, the state government announced on Wednesday that the benefits of its loan waiver scheme would be made accessible to farmers before Diwali.
Cooperatives minister Subhash Deshmukh, who heads the cabinet subcommittee on the loan waiver scheme, said the government has received data on 56.59 lakh farmer families whereas the number of account holders is 77.29 lakh.
Commercial and district cooperative banks are trying to build a complete data base on farmers in the state. The information spans 66 columns, and it has to be vetted by officers and auditors. In districts where complete information has been furnished and validated, the loan waiver process will start immediately.
As of Tuesday, data on 50 lakh of the 77.29 lakh account holders has been furnished in the prescribed format. Of that, 15 lakh accounts have been verified.
The process of validation is automated and the final list of beneficiaries will be prepared on the basis of information received through village-level meetings. A committee at the taluka level will finalize the list of beneficiaries.
Aadhaar registration is mandatory for farmers to avail the waiver and farmers who have been repaying loans regularly would get motivational benefits directly deposited into their respective accounts.