Devendra Fadnavis. (File)THE BJP on Thursday asked the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to address “real issues” and “hardships” of people and farmers instead of getting into “politics of vendetta”.
In a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray a day after the arrest of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said there was a serious agrarian crisis due to crop loss.
“In the Vidarbha region, which is soybean and cotton hub, farmers suffered losses up to 80 per cent. Therefore, the government should come out with measures to provide immediate relief,” Fadnavis wrote.
“Instead of focusing on non-issues to settle scores against individuals, the government needs to address larger concerns of poor people and small and marginal farmers struggling for a decent meal in their distant villages,” the former CM wrote to Thackeray.
Fadnavis demanded a review of the guidelines for relief to rain-affected farmers as Vidarbha farmers have larger land holdings needing greater financial investment, but due to geographical and climatic conditions the harvest is lower than other regions of the state.
Although the state government announced a Rs 10,000-crore package last month for rain-hit farmers, the delay in completing panchanamas coupled with bureaucratic hurdles are coming in the way of benefits reaching the farmer.