Prices of seeds won’t be hiked as CM overturns Khadse decision

MUMBAI: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis revoked another decision of former BJP minister Eknath Khadse who was ousted from the state cabinet two weeks ago after

MUMBAI: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis revoked another decision of former BJP minister Eknath Khadse who was ousted from the state cabinet two weeks ago after facing corruption allegations over a land deal.

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The chief minister has revoked the decision of the agriculture department to hike the prices of seeds by 25 to 50%.

The move to revoke was taken in the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday. Khadse was heading the agriculture ministry along with several other departments until resigning from the cabinet on June 4.

Not only t his, CM even expressed displeasure on the decision to hike prices. “He was annoyed with the department for not taking the cabinet’s approval for hiking prices of seeds procured by the state-run body — Maharashtra State Seeds Corporation Limited (Mahabeej), said a BJP minister.

Fadnavis took the decision for revoking a price rise as farmers are already in distress over the drought. More than 73% of villages in the state have been declared as drought-affected while the Marathwada region is facing drought for the fourth consecutive year.

“Expressed strong displeasure over the seed price hike by Mahabeej and stays the decision, giving major relief to lakhs of farmers,” Fadnavis said in a tweet.

Sources said Girish Bapat raised the issue before the cabinet after which many ministers expressed their concern on the matter. Finally, the CM issued the stay order on the decision.

In February too, Fadnavis asked Khadse to reconsider his decision for closing down four cattle fodder camps in three of the worse drought-affected districts of Marathwada — Latur, Beed and Osmanabad.

Earlier, in the backdrop of the controversy over handing plot of land for pittance to actor Hema Malini, Fadnavis had similarly asked Khadse to revise the lease policy by scrapping the controversial government order. Khadse had then retorted that even if the lease policy for handing out plots to trusts was revised, it would not have an effect on the land allotted to the actress.