Maharashtra government, Opposition at loggerheads over financial help for flood-affected farmers

While targeting Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, leader of Opposition and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said

While targeting Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, leader of Opposition and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Tuesday that the state government can borrow ₹60,000 crore to extend relief to the farmers instead of waiting for the assistance from the Centre. Revenue minister and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat hit back, saying the delay in releasing the pending compensation payments under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) had left Maharashtra in a financial crisis.

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More than 10 lakh hectares of crops in central and western Maharashtra were destroyed in the retreating monsoon last week. Chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray, who toured Solapur on Monday, will visit flood-affected villages in Osmanabad on Wednesday. BJP leader Fadnavis has been touring Osmanabad over the past two days.

Fadnavis said at a press conference in Osmanabad, “The state is entitled to borrow ₹1.20 lakh crore from various sources as per the parameters set by the Reserve Bank of India. The state has so far raised only ₹60,000 crore and an equal amount still can be borrowed. The MVA government should borrow to help farmers who have sustained heavy losses,” he said, adding that he was ready to do whatever was required to assist the farmers. “I have written a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah, who heads a committee on Central assistance for natural calamities, to depute the Central committee to survey the losses in Maharashtra at the earliest. The Modi government is positive about the relief measures to the farmers,” he said.

Fadnavis also said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has been shouldering the responsibility of defending the MVA government, comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress. He played a video of Thackeray talking about last year’s unseasonal rain and reminded his estranged ally about their demand for financial aid to the farmers.

On Monday, Thackeray had said that had the Centre released the GST compensation on time, Maharashtra would not have been compelled to ask for Central assistance for flood-hit farmers. On Tuesday, Thorat said, “Our compensation toward GST losses from the Centre has accumulated to ₹30,000 crore since April. We have borrowed ₹55,000 crore so far for salaries and other recurring costs amid the drop in revenue because of the lockdown. Maharashtra is one of the highest tax-paying states in the country, despite which the Modi government gives us stepmotherly treatment when it comes to financial assistance.”

Meanwhile, Thackeray on Tuesday said the Union government should take permanent measures to ensure farmers receive compensation from insurance companies. During a meeting with Thackeray, the Banana Growers Association from Jalgaon claimed the conditions laid down by insurance companies benefit the companies and not farmers. Thackeray has instructed the agriculture department to convene a meeting with representatives of insurance companies immediately. “The crops and orchards are damaged due to various reasons. But it is very difficult for farmers to get compensation from insurance companies. The Centre should make permanent measures on this,” Thackeray said in a statement issued by the CM’s office.

State agriculture minister Dada Bhuse said that a committee with experts should be set up to study various models of crop insurance.