The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has hit out at the State government for not doing enough to mitigate the drought-like situation the State is facing.
The NCP supremo on Saturday held a marathon meeting with party leaders and legislators on the prevailing drought crisis and said his party will present a memorandum to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with a charter of demands. These would include increase in allowances given for cattle fodder to farmers (₹90 now per cattle), financial assistance for students in the drought affected regions, among others.
“Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Fadnavis have failed to consider the seriousness of the drought in Maharashtra. The situation is serious in several parts of Vidarbha, Marathwada and western Maharashtra. The Government must focus on drinking water, employment and cattle camps for the crisis to be managed better,” Mr. Pawar said.
The party leaders said the NCP will also raise the issue of drought crisis in the upcoming monsoon session of the Assembly. The government has declared 151 talukas as drought affected and is getting a central assistance of ₹4,714 crore. After the meet, senior NCP leaders said the party has concluded this is the worst crisis in the past five decades. “We in Mumbai and Thane do not feel the pinch and are ignorant about the crisis but migration is likely to increase with only 15% to 20% water left in the dams,” said senior NCP leader Jitendra Awhad after the meet.
The Chief Minister had on April 30 written a letter to the Election Commission seeking relaxation of the Model Code of Conduct to carry out drought relief measures in the State. “There are a number of infrastructure works such as drilling of bore wells, repairs to drinking water schemes, irrigation canal maintenance works, etc. which need to be taken up during the extreme summer,” he had said.
‘New leadership will emerge’
Mr. Pawar also said the Mahagathbandhan of the opposition parties will give the country a new leadership after May 23.
“It may happen on May 23 or a month later but a new leadership will emerge from the opposition parties. The current regime has even exploited the armed forces for its political mileage,” he said.