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Mumbai, Oct 9 (IANS) Shiv Sena (UBT) on Thursday accused the BJP-led alliance government of mocking “balirajas (farmers)” in the state under the guise of Rs 31,628 crore relief package and claimed the figures are adequate but “fake” and a “cruel joke”.
Terming the package as “nonsense”, the Thackeray camp in an editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ criticized the state government for “playing the numbers game” with farmers devastated by torrential rains and floods.
“Like the Ladki Bahin scheme, which other welfare schemes will be affected by this package? What about financial assistance from the central government? Why are state leaders so reluctant about it? What about loan waiver? There are so many questions, and this nonsense package from the state government does not answer any of them,” it claimed.
Taking a dig at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s claim of giving adequate package to flood-affected farmers, the editorial said, “While inflating the numbers looks attractive, in reality it is all a hoax.”
Referring to the Chief Minister’s statement that efforts are being made to ensure that this assistance reaches farmers by Diwali, however, the Thackeray camp claimed that looking at the destroyed farms, families and homes, it is clear that this year’s Diwali will be spent in darkness for farmers.
“If the government really wanted to sweeten the farmers’ Diwali, it should have announced this ‘package’ earlier. The package that has been announced is of the ‘big figures, fake aid’ type. Basically, the government, whose coffers are dwindling, how and when will it raise this Rs 31,628 crore? When will this money actually reach the farmers? Till then, how will the farmer and his family survive? How will he celebrate Diwali?” He asked.
The editorial reiterated that the government’s numbers game will not work and will not solve the problems of flood-affected farmers. “The government says that farmers whose land has been eroded will be given Rs 3 lakh through NREGA and cash compensation of Rs 47,000 per hectare. The government has presented big ‘figures’, but the situation at the ground level is different. About 60,000 acres of land has been eroded in the state. To improve the structure of the eroded land, silt will have to be filled in the dams and this work is not possible. Will happen.” At least until April. So till then should farmers just sit back and watch their agriculture being destroyed? When will the Chief Minister’s assurance of ‘NREGA’ compensation of Rs 3 lakh actually be ‘implemented’ on the farmers? All these questions still remain because funds for this scheme never come on time from the central government,” it said.
According to the editorial, out of the Rs 31,628 crore package, Rs 10,000 crore will be given for infrastructure development. This has become a means of filling the pockets of contractors in the name of affected farmers. The package also includes financial assistance of Rs 2,200 crore announced earlier. This means that the government has played the ‘numbers game’ here too, as the distribution of that aid is still in question.
The Thackeray camp said that the government has announced an assistance of Rs 563 crore for the flood-affected Nanded district. Of this, the government has so far been able to allocate barely Rs 173 crore. Questioning the slow pace of aid distribution, he said that at this rate when will the money of Rs 31,628 crore actually go into the pockets of the farmers?
“Will this cover the minimum production cost of farmers? The per acre production cost of a crop like soybean is around Rs 14,000, and the declared assistance is Rs 18,000 per hectare. If we assume that a hectare is two and a half acres, the production cost is around Rs 35,000, and the government assistance is Rs 18,000, which is not even half of that. Even if we accept the Chief Minister’s claim that no one can provide There is 100 percent compensation, barely 30-40 help Percentage damage is a cruel joke. In such a situation, how and when will the government raise Rs 3,628 crore and give it to farmers,” the party asked in its mouthpiece.
–IANS
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