Mumbai 22nd August : Aiming to change around the government coalition of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and BJP’s deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, the opposition Congress on Monday demanded that criminal cases are filed against the Maharashtra government for the continued suicides of distressed farmers throughout the state.Congress State President Nana Patole said that in various regions of the state, including Vidarbha and Marathwada torrential rains have caused enormous damage to the farmlands and that there is “a necessity to declare a drought”.
“The Shinde-Fadnavis Government is anti-farmer , and there is no slowdown in the farmers’ suicide in the state.While the BJP was in opposition, they demanded that cases were brought against us (the former Maha Vikas Aghadi).
Now, we demand cases to be filed against the Shinde-Fadnavis government,” he demanded.
Declaring the ex-gratia reward that the state government announced as “insufficient” The Congress chief said the claim that it was more than NDRF standards were “fooling” the people .He also added that the administration is not sensitive to farmers.
“The NDRF norms are now outdated because the costs of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides have risen significantly.
The aid that the government has announced doesn’t reflect the rising costs and even the Centre has left farmers in the mud,” said Patole.
He reiterated the demand of the amount of Rs 75,000 per hectare for farmers who have suffered losses in the lands that are not irrigated and Rs 150,000 to farmers who suffered losses in the irrigated and horticulture land.
Patole stated that Congress officials have visited and examined areas affected by flooding, where a ‘wet-drought kind of condition is prevalent and the farmers are upset that the government of the state is not taking care of them.
On the third day the opposition Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena and other parties continued to protest against the steps of the Maharashtra Legislature.
They chanted protests against the Shinde-Fadnavis government calling Shinde and his rebel Shiv Sena MLAs as “gaddars” (traitors) and mocked them over the ’50 khoke’ (Rs.50 crores) and claimed that those who fought the ED turned towards the BJP.
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