The Maharashtra government on Tuesday formed a cabinet sub-committee to undertake relief measures in the drought-prone regions of the state.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a review meeting on the state's situation and asked his ministers to visit drought-prone areas, meet farmers and address their concerns.
Fadnavis also directed local authorities to visit damaged crop fields and immediately conduct panchanamas to assess the crop losses. Due to the prolonged dry spell, soybean and cotton crops have been severely damaged in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, while paddy crops have been affected in the Konkan region.
The cabinet sub-committee will be headed by Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule. Ministers Girish Mahajan, Gulabrao Patil, Pankaja Munde and Babasaheb Patil will be members of the committee.
The state chief secretary will apprise the committee of the drought situation and the measures being taken to mitigate its impact. The sub-committee has also been empowered to take decisions regarding assistance to farmers so that official rules do not delay measures.
The Opposition has demanded that the government officially declare the drought and provide compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare to affected farmers, along with Rs 25,000 to each labourer family.
During the meeting, the CM also directed the authorities to give special attention to drinking water and animal fodder. He said that decisions regarding drinking water had been delegated to municipal corporations, municipalities and panchayati raj institutions.
Maharashtra Congress President Harshvardhan Sapkal said the incumbent state government was not serious about the problems faced by farmers in drought-prone areas. He said the state government had announced a farm loan waiver long ago, but a majority of farmers were yet to receive its benefits.
“Now, farmers are reeling under drought. There is no water for their crops or animals, and even people are facing a shortage of drinking water. Our Congress-ruled neighbouring state, Karnataka, has declared a drought and announced financial assistance," Sapkal said.
"But here in Maharashtra, the state government is more worried about snacks at meetings than helping farmers. The government should not wait for farmers to die and then announce assistance later,” Sapkal added.