With toll at 536, CM visits Amravati to check on relief measures.
It was meant to be an initiative to reach out to debt-ridden farmers. Yet, on Friday, while Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was attending a ‘Janata Darbar’ (public hearing) in Yavatmal town of Vidarbha four more farmers ended their lives in the district.
The farmers have been identified as Pundlik Uke of Salebhati village, Dipal Vajpayee of Phulsawangi village, Atul Kute of Tirzada village and Sitaran Rathode of Sewadas Nagar village. All four of them had suffered massive losses due to the torrential downpour this week. The Yavatmal deaths and the six others in other parts of Vidarbha has taken the total death toll in 2012 to 536.
While many are connecting the suicides with the trust deficit among distressed farmers, eyebrows have been raised about the choice of venue. “Imagine the message that goes out when Pawar decides to have the Janata Darbar at the residence of his party MLC Sandeep Bajoria despite the latter's name figuring in the Rs30,000 crore Vidarbha irrigation scam,” said Kishore Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS).
Falling cotton prices coupled with flawed government policy on minimum selling price and export have only worsened the agrarian crisis which has claimed over 9,000 farmers' lives since 2005. The fresh onslaught of heavy rain has flattened the soya crop too. “With banks not forthcoming with fresh crop loans and costs of seed, fertilisers and pesticides going through the roof, farmers are caught between the devil and deep sea,” said Tiwari.
“With rains playing truant and ground water depleting fast, it is high time the government intervenes to ensure farmers shift to less water-intensive crops like jowar, bajra and pulses instead of cotton and soya.”
On Saturday, chief minister Prithviraj Chauhan was also in Vidarbha on Saturday. The CM was in Amravati for a review meeting on relief measures by the local administration. Sources at the meeting said the officials claim the situation wasn't bad.
“Officials have praised government programmes and their outreach,” pointed out the source.
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