NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday demanded a complete loan waiver for farmers in the flood- ravaged Sangli and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra taking into account "unprecedented" loss caused to agriculture.
He said the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state should forthwith announce to waive farms loans of cultivators in these western Maharashtra districts.
The former Union agriculture minister said floods have caused large-scale loss to farming and dairy business in Sangli and Kolhapur districts.
"I have seen several floods, but looking at the overall scope of the flood in these areas and the agricultural position of the region, I can say the people are facing unprecedented loss due to the flood situation," said Pawar.
He said there should be speedy assessment of damage caused by the floods to arrive at adequate compensation amount for the affected people.
"Once the flood situation improves, the government should start 'panchanamas' (on spot inspections) of the losses and on that basis, a decision should be taken to pay compensation.
"Due to flooding, it is clear that farming and dairy business in the region will be destroyed so the state and Centre should take a decision of giving 100 per cent loan waiver to farmers," he demanded.
He claimed the government machinery is virtually absent in the flood-affected areas.
"Currently, the picture in the flood-hit areas is that there is no government machinery and this is due to several reasons, but right now I do not want to get into that," the NCP leader said.
The former chief minister said looking at the current situation, social organisations and NGOs should come together to provide help to the flood-hit people.
He said all elected representatives of the NCP have decided to donate one month salary for flood relief and rehabilitation efforts.
More than one lakh people have been evacuated from flood-affected areas till now.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
