Congress, NCP worry over hailstorm backlash

Crops on 13 lakh ha destroyed in 28 Maharashtra districts

March 12, 2014 07:18 pm | Updated May 19, 2016 08:10 am IST - MUMBAI:

Crops on nearly 13 lakh hectares worth several hundred crores have been destroyed in unseasonal rains and hailstorm in as many as 28 of Maharashtra’s 35 districts over the last fortnight. A calamity, which has set alarm bells ringing in the Congress-NCP government over farmers’ backlash in the Lok Sabha polls.

The State estimates it will need Central assistance worth over Rs. 600 crore to help compensate the farmers. In the last few days, politicians have rushed to the region. Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar made a two-day visit. On Tuesday, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray toured the area.

“Part of the kharif crop and virtually the entire rabi crop have been destroyed. The situation is quite serious,” said Relief and Rehabilitation Secretary Milind Mhaiskar. “The impact will be all more in Marathwada, which has experienced two years of drought. The Vidarbha region also saw massive crop damage during the heavy rains last year,” he added.

The hailstorm began around February 22 in Vidarbha and later spread to Marathwada, north Maharashtra and western Maharashtra. Besides food crops, over a lakh hectares of horticulture crops including grapes, bananas and oranges were destroyed, according to the government. Twenty-eight people and 1,600 animals were killed.

Rural Nagpur, in the Vidarbha region infamous for farmer suicides, has been worst hit, with crops on 1.38 lakh hectares destroyed.However, the Marathwada region has borne the brunt of the calamity. The districts of Latur, Osmanabad and Jalna have had crops destroyed on more than 90,000 hectares.

Farmers’ groups have criticised the government response. “Politicians visited us only after the polls were announced. If they are serious about this issue, they should defer the polls and tackle the crisis. Otherwise, the model code of conduct will hamper relief operations,” said Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti leader Kishore Tiwari.

But Mr. Mhaiskar said: “This is a natural calamity and we hope the Election Commission does not object to relief activities.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.