Nagpur: Two Chandrapur farmers have knocked the doors of high court here alleging that floods that hit Vidarbha’s four districts on August 28-30 were “man-made”. They charged the state government with discrimination while awarding compensation to farmers in the region when compared with those in western Maharashtra and Konkan.
A division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Avinash Gharote on Friday issued notices to the respondents, including Central and state governments, asking them to reply in six weeks.
Through their counsels Anand Deshpande and Kalyan Kumar, also the Elgar Pratishthan secretary, the petitioners prayed for constitution of judicial commission to inquire into the floods that devastated many crops in districts of Nagpur, Bhandara, Chandrapur, and Gondia. They further demanded that flood-hit farmers be compensated as per the Disaster Management Act, 2005, at par with their counterparts in western Maharashtra.
On August 28-30, Gosikhurd dam’s 33 gates were opened for discharging water into Wainganga. However, the release at 30,000 cubic metres per second led to large-scale flooding of riparian towns and villages in all four districts. About 261 villages got submerged and over 96,000 people were affected.
According to the petitioners, the respondents didn’t comply with the guidelines in operation and maintenance manual for dams issued by the Central Water Commission (CWC) and Central Dam Safety Organization.
Petitioners Manik Choudhary and Manohar Naktode from Bramhapuri have made Union Ministry for Water Resources and River Development, Central Dam Safety Organisation directorate, State Irrigation Department, Department of Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation along with collectors of Nagpur, Gondia, Bhandara and Chandrapur as respondents.
Pointing out there were no rains when the floods hit them, the petitioners said they suffered massive losses due to the undeclared calamity. Not only were their standing crops damaged, but even their homes were washed away. Terming the event as “administrative negligence”, they blamed the government for meting out partial treatment to them in relief and rehabilitation measures.
Quoting the state minister for relief and rehabilitation who announced a compensation of Rs18,000/per hectare to the farmers for the losses, the petitioners said the officials later told them the amount was reduced to Rs13,600/hectare which means they will receive a pittance.