Is MahaYuti govt waiting for all farmers to join party before announcing crop loan waiver: Uddhav Thackeray
Mumbai: Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday demanded that the Maharashtra government immediately provide Rs 50,000 per hectare compensation to farmers and a special scheme on the lines of Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana should be introduced to rebuild the houses damaged in rural areas due to heavy rains and floods in Marathwada and rest of the state. “So, is the BJP-led government waiting for all the farmers to join the Bharatiya Janata Party to waive off these loans?” he taunted.
He slammed the Maharashtra government for not announcing crop loan waiver despite repeated demands by farmers and the Opposition parties.
“If the government is taking a guarantee of hundreds of thousands of crores of sugar tycoons after they join the BJP, meaning if they default on their loans, the government will pay that money, meaning the general public will pay.
“Maharashtra is facing a crisis of heavy rains. I have also requested the government with folded hands that we can all come together and find a way out of this crisis without bringing politics into it. But the government does not seem to be ready for that. The Chief Minister is busy with publicity. One Deputy Chief Minister is busy distributing aid packets with his own photos printed on them. Another Deputy Chief Minister is not visible. When any issue comes up, this other Deputy Chief Minister is never seen, the people are left in the lurch,” claimed Thackeray without naming CM Devendra Fadnavis and his two deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar.
He further expressed displeasure over banks serving notices to farmers for the recovery of debt, saying that it will further hit growers badly.
“Farmers cannot get loans without mortgaging something. The government never guarantees their loans. Today, the situation is such that their crops along with the land have been destroyed and they are dying under the burden of debt. There are reports of farmers committing suicide every day,” Uddhav Thackeray remarked.
Thackeray also read out the letter written by Devendra Fadnavis in his capacity as the Leader of the Opposition to him on October 16, 2020 during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s tenure, demanding the declaration of a wet drought. He also demanded that the MahaYuti government should now declare wet drought.
“Call it a wet drought or a drought of your imagination, whatever you call it, the farmers are in trouble today. The farmers should be immediately provided with assistance of Rs 50,000 per hectare. A new rural scheme like the PMAY must be announced soon,” Uddhav Thackeray demanded.
“Instead of using the word “wet drought”, I (as Chief Minister) used the word “disaster-hit”. How can you deny the crisis because there is no mention of wet drought. Can you deny the damage caused because the term “wet drought” is not in the government manual. Do words sometimes change according to the status of people? Let’s not play with useless words. The central team has not yet come to the state. Everything is being done ruthlessly by conducting inspections and panchnamas,” Uddhav Thackeray pointed out.
Thackeray said that the government should not make paper horses dance during the present crisis. “Schools in flood-affected areas should be opened immediately, there is a problem of spread of diseases. The Prime Minister is providing free food grains to 80 crore people of the country, but the one who grows all this has been devastated. In many places, farmlands have been washed away, roads have been washed away, the government should pay immediate attention. The government is not working,” Uddhav Thackeray claimed.
Thackeray also criticised the Maharashtra government for its decision to cut Rs 5 per tonne from sugarcane farmers and Rs 10 per tonne for the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund making it a total of Rs 15 per tonne.
“You have given amnesty to sugar tycoons, we are demanding crop loan waiver for the poor farmers. The time has come for the farmers to mortgage their land and ‘mangalsutras’. Currently, the farmers are burdened with debt due to the loss of crops and they have been further burdened with the cut of Rs 15 per tonne,” he said.