Central Maharashtra farmers say that deer & black buck have destroyed standing crops worth crores of rupees.
Farmers in central Maharashtra are up in arms against the state government for not paying heed to the heavy destruction of standing crops by deer and black bucks over the past four years.
A group of farmers in Garaj and surrounding villages, an area headed by Karbhari Maruti Sarovar, told DNA that despite launching road blocks, staged demonstrations and observing a public fast, nothing has been done till date. Farmers from Sholapur, Osmanabad, Latur, Beed and Aurangabad drive away the animals in daylight, but after sunset, they trample over the cotton, groundnut, tur, moong, jowar and bajra crops.
Subhash Phadke of Latur tahsil said the population of these animals has been rising rapidly. Current efforts by the forest department in Aurangabad district have not been able to stop the destruction of crops, said Nandu Hiwrale, a Naigaon-based farmer. However, forest officers of Aurangabad division claim that in Kannad tahsil, 231 animals were caught and rehabilitated in a wildlife sanctuary situated near Sohol-Karanja village of Washim district in Vidarbha.
Bhupendra Singh Hooda and VP Suryavanshi, the conservator of forests, Aurangabad division, assert that they earlier caught animals with the help of Bhoya tribals of Andhra Pradesh.
However, the project came to a standstill due to paucity of funds. “It requires special funds from the state government,” they reasoned.
Irate farmers in Garaj, Naigaon and Pakhari villages have now filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay high court bench at Aurangabad.
In 2006, the then district collector formed a committee to make suggestions on how to control the deer menace. Then guardian minister Patangrao Kadam (now holding the forest portfolio) promised the creation of a ‘deer and black buck protection centre’ near Talwada village, announcing a sum of Rs1.25 crore for this purpose. However, there has been no progress on this matter.
What’s more, farmers say the state government issued a GR on August 23, 2009, wherein it was promised that a compensation of Rs5,000 per hectare would be paid to each family affected by the menace. Later, it was reduced to Rs2,000 only, which farmers claim is not enough to cover up costs.
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