Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the government was taking measures to ensure stable electricity supply for Maharashtra to curb farmer suicides in the State’s Vidarbha region.
Pointing out that unavailability of irrigation water and insufficient power supply were the two major factors behind agricultural distress, the Union Transport and Highways Minister said the government was working to achieve a “load-shedding-free” Maharashtra. “I won’t promise. But I will say our target is six months. I am in talks with [Power and Coal Minister] Piyush Goyal and [Maharashtra Chief Minister] Devendra Fadnavis on this matter,” Mr. Gadkari said.
“For as long as a farmer does not get water and electricity, farmer suicides will not stop. We are seriously trying to address the major issues. Merely building big dams will not do; we also need to build small check dams to provide irrigation facilities to farmers,” Mr. Gadkari said.
Mr. Gadkari, who hails from Vidarbha, claimed that his village suffered 16 hours of load-shedding daily.
Protesting against the official apathy towards agrarian distress in Vidarbha, farmer widows in the region on December 31 participated in a protest march and “candlelight vigil” to pay tribute to the farmers who have committed suicide over the years; 2014 would be observed as the “year of betrayal” as the promises of the new government have not been fulfilled, said farmers’ activist Kishore Tiwari.
