Maharashtra in a financial bind over hailstorm compensation

Mungantiwar assures help; Fadnavis knocks at Centre’s door

Nagpur 13 February 2018: BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh looking at the damage orange crops at Kondhali village near Nagpur and also launch an agitation demanding immediate compensation to farmers. Agitator came on street to press the demand,stopped traffic on Tuesday. Photo: S Sudarshan

Mumbai: A beleagured Maharashtra government is in a bind over compensation to farmers affected by the hailstorm which has hit large parts of the state. Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told The Hindu everything is being done to make a budget provision for a compensation package, even as Chief Minister has sought additional aid from the Centre.

More than 1,000 villages in 11 districts have been affected by the worst hailstorm in many years with damage to crops over 1.25 lakh hectares reported in Akola, Washim, Latur, Osmanabad, Hingoli, Beed, Jalna, Parbhani, Jalgaon, Buldana, and Amravati.

The farmer associations are calling for an agitation if their demands for a compensation of ₹50,000 per acre of damage is not met.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday met the Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission N.K. Singh to demand greater share of funding towards the agriculture sector.

He raised the issue of surging financial demands by the farm sector. “The Chief Minister has demanded more funding for the agriculture sector; we must get our dues in the wake of the hailstorm, which is likely to put more burden on the exchequer,” said a senior officer of the finance department.

Senior finance department officials told The Hindu the State’s current debt burden is at ₹5.25 lakh crore, and there is little room for manoeuvring. The government will have to walk a tight rope balancing its fiscal and revenue deficit targets when the state Budget is presented on March 9. “We have released only 70% of the funds to departments and asked them to keep the rest in the Treasury due to the existing crunch. It will be tough to accommodate any more compensation and subsidies,” the officer said.

Mr. Mungantiwar said the government will manage everything in its power to give compensation to farmers for hailstorm damage. “Let the final reports come in the next few days. The compensation amount will then be calculated. We will ensure that a budgetary provision for the affected farmers is made in the coming budget,” Mr. Mungantiwar said.