The situation of drought has intensified in parts of Maharashtra. Water levels have dropped down to only 13% and more than 15,000 villages are depending upon water tankers. At the time when the state is staring at desertification, Government of Maharashtra is looking at farmers' demand for another farm loan waiver in Maharashtra.
The sources said that the government of Maharashtra is at present collecting agricultural data. It has also directed the Revenue Department to work out on a detailed plan in order to estimate the financial burden on the state and if requires another loan waiver.
Immediately after coming to power, Chief Minister Fadnavis had decided to start a campaign in order to make the state drought-proof by the year 2019. The project focused on deepening and widening of different streams, check-dam construction and farm-pond digging.
Earlier than this, the BJP-led State Government had promised a farm loan waiver worth Rs. 34,000 crore in June 2017. The estimation was done that this amount would benefit 89 lakh farmers.
According to the data available with the state government, during the years 2014 to 2018, 14,034 farmers have ended their lives, out of which 4,500 had committed suicide just after the loan waiver was announced.
More than 85.76 lakh hectares are being affected by drought, directly impacting 82 lakh farmers. To bring the situation under control, a major portion of the farmers have been given drought relief and the government is taking steps to provide farmers with crop insurance amount by avoiding any sort of delay.
The government has claimed that 34 lakh farmers have received crop insurance worth ₹2,200 crore. The state government has taken the permission for setting up 1,501 fodder camps which will house 10 lakh cattle.
In the last few years, drought has destroyed Kharif crops, with winter crops being a distant dreams for many farmers. The major crops grown in the state such as Maize, Soya, Cotton, Mosambi, Pulses and Groundnut have suffered too due to poor rains.
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