Pawar continues to attack state over drought-relief measures
MUMBAI: As part of his tour of drought-affected areas in the state, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday met with farmers in Beed. He also plans to meet chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis in the coming days to discuss the matter.
Pawar continued his attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, claiming the measures taken by the state have been insufficient to tackle the issue.
“The drought this year is worse than the one in 1972. Farmers have lost their produce and there is severe scarcity of drinking water. The tankers deployed to supply drinking water are not sufficient. In many places, supply of contaminated water has created health issues. This is also affecting their employment. Farmers are suffering from all sides,” said Pawar.
“In such a scenario, we want to help farmers without politicising the issue. I will take up these issues with the central and state governments. I have sought an appointment with the chief minister and will meet him in the next few days,” he said.
During his Beed visit, Pawar also visited cattle camps and met their organisers. Pawar was told that the organisers were planning on shutting the camps, as they had received no reimbursement from the state since the camps’ inception on May 27. However, Pawar told them to put their plan on hold for eight days and assured them of intervention. On Sunday, Pawar had visited drought-hit villages in Satara district.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis continued his review meetings for drought-hit districts — Satara, Sangli, Amravati, Yavatmal and Chandrapur on Monday.
Fadnavis directed officials to provide drinking water through tankers wherever there are demands and provide employment to people through the employment guarantee scheme.
For Chandrapur, he ordered district officials to restart water supply schemes that are currently defunct and have been closed owing to non-payment of electricitydues. Healsodirected the district administration to pay all the power dues so that the water schemes can be resumed at the earliest.