About 10,000 farmers commit suicide in Vidarbha every year: Nitin Gadkari

‘Steps being taken to ease the agrarian distress’

February 17, 2022 09:20 pm | Updated February 18, 2022 01:26 am IST - VIJAYAWADA

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, at a public meeting in Vijayawada on Thursday.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, at a public meeting in Vijayawada on Thursday.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that about 10,000 farmers commit suicide in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra every year for multiple reasons, including poor irrigation facilities.

“To help them overcome the crisis, various steps are being taken to ease the agrarian distress, and focus is laid on diversification of the farm sector into renewable energy generation,” Mr. Gadkari said while addressing a public meeting here on Thursday.

Polavaram project

“I have personally kept my three sugar factories running in spite of the losses incurred by them, only to ensure the farmers’ welfare,” Mr. Gadkari said, while making a contextual reference to the importance of the Polavaram project which, he insisted, would really become the lifeline for the farmers of Andhra Pradesh, who were also hit by adverse weather and the vagaries of markets. 

Recalling his visit to the Polavaram project when he was Union Minister for Water Resources, Mr. Gadkari said, as a farmer, he had an emotional attachment to it, and expressed happiness that 80% of the project had been completed after being severely hampered by some problems related to the contractor in the initial stages, which had since been resolved. 

Projects such as Polavaram, which would prevent the flowing of an estimated 1,300 tmcft precious water into the sea, were the need of the hour, he asserted.

Top News Today

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.