Maharashtra government seeks ₹3,700 crore for flood-hit farmers

The Maharashtra government has sought a financial aid of ₹3,700 crore from the Centre for relief to farmers hit by floods in September and October. A six-member

The Maharashtra government has sought a financial aid of ₹3,700 crore from the Centre for relief to farmers hit by floods in September and October. A six-member central team will assess the losses in flood-hit areas of Vidarbha, Marathwada and Pune over six days, beginning Sunday. The Centre is expected to release the financial compensation based on the report of its committee.

Flood situation in Pandharpur in October. (HT File)

“We have sought financial assistance of ₹3,700 crore against the losses of crops due to the floods in September and October. Following this, a team from the Central government will come for a six-day tour of the state, during which they will visit flood-affected areas of Vidarbha, central Maharashtra (Marathwada) and western Maharashtra,” said Abhay Yawalkar, director, disaster management, relief and rehabilitation department.

The retreating monsoon caused damage to harvest-ready crops over seven lakh hectares in more than 10 districts in central and western Maharashtra in October. Standing crops such as soya bean, cotton, gram, sugarcane, pomegranate etc. were flattened due to heavy rain in districts of Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur, Satara, Osmanabad, Latur, Beed and Aurangabad. Solapur in western Maharashtra and Osmanabad in central Maharashtra were the worst-hit. Similarly, in September, around 88,864 hectares of agriculture land in 34 talukas of Nagpur, Bhandara, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli was hit due to the floods in Vidarbha, officials said.

This would be the second visit of the Central team to Vidarbha as it had already visited the region post the floods in August.