After heavy rainfall in the last few days destroyed hectares of cropland in the Marathwada region, politicking over relief began between the tripartite Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the Opposition BJP in Maharashtra.
A day after Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar urged the BJP-ruled Union government not to discriminate between States while providing relief packages, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Friday asked why the State government had not yet announced a relief package of its own, adding that all relief promised by the MVA government for natural calamities this year had “proven hollow”.
“All the pronouncements of this [MVA] government is an eyewash… Flood-hit farmers and citizens from earlier calamities this year, including the heavy rainfall that affected the Konkan and western Maharashtra, have yet to receive compensation,” Mr. Fadnavis said. He added that he would be visiting Marathwada on Saturday.
The BJP leader along with his BJP colleague, Pravin Darekar, the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, would be commencing their tour of the flood-hit districts in Marathwada from Washim, he said.
“In reality, whenever a crisis of this magnitude grips the State, the government need not wait for the local administrations to finish the individual panchnamas [damage assessment] of farmers... It can announce basic relief for farmers if it wants to… I will visit the Marathwada tomorrow, beginning from Washim, to ensure that the plight of the farmers is heard by this government. We [BJP] shall be demanding maximum compensation from the MVA government,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
‘Pre-decided strategy’
Mr. Darekar also hit out at the MVA government, stating that each time a natural calamity hit Maharashtra, the State government shifted the blame to the Union government instead of acting on its own. “It appears to be the MVA’s pre-decided strategy that whenever a major crisis hits the State, they push it on the Union government and create a Union government versus State government narrative. This has been going on for several months now,” he said.
Earlier, Congress leader and State Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar had alleged that the Union government had thus far sanctioned only ₹1,100 crore of the ₹7,700 crore relief demanded by the Maharashtra government to cope with the damages caused by various natural calamities this year.
Assuring farmers that the State government stood firm with them, Mr. Pawar said the Union government had given relief packages as high as ₹3,000 crore to certain States even without them demanding it.
State Congress chief Nana Patole, too, accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government of indulging in “favouritism” by not doling out the requisite relief to Maharashtra, which had borne the onslaught of at least three natural calamities in the last year alone.
