Chandrapur collector orders halt to farm loan recovery, exam fee waiver for students amid drought

Chandrapur District Collector Vasumana Pant has directed all departments to work in coordination on measures to tackle the drought. At a review meeting held at the Collector's office on October 15, she said panchnamas should be conducted transparently, loan recovery should be stopped and students should get the benefit of the exam fee waiver. These tasks were to be given top priority.

Directions were also given to speed up water conservation works to create employment in rural areas and ease the water shortage. Given the drought in the district, all departments were asked to work with sensitivity to provide relief to farmers, farm labourers, students and ordinary citizens. Senior officials present at the meeting included Chief Executive Officer Pulkit Singh, Municipal Corporation Commissioner Akunuri Naresh, Resident Deputy Collector Dagdu Kumbhar and Water Resources Department Superintending Engineer Praveen Zhod.

Pant said there should be no irregularity or shortfall in the panchnamas of crops damaged by the drought. Every panchnama should be properly recorded and a scanned copy preserved. Details of the panchnamas should be made public in the concerned gram panchayats so that farmers can verify them and there is no room for objections.

It was said that giving priority to water conservation works was necessary to deal with the coming water shortage. Under this, jalatara and vanrai bandhara works should be taken up on a large scale in the district. To ensure there is no shortage of fodder for livestock in villages, a plan should be drawn up to grow fodder on available land around the mama talavs near villages.

On loan recovery from farmers, the Collector said farmers already facing financial distress in the drought should not be burdened with recovery. Loans taken for agriculture as well as for farm machinery should not be recovered. The Lead District Bank should give clear instructions to all banks in the district. Care should also be taken that private moneylenders do not harass farmers for recovery.

On exam fees, it was stated that in view of the drought the state government has decided to waive students' exam fees. The decision should be implemented effectively and eligible students should not be charged fees. Where fees have been collected, especially from students receiving scholarships, they should be refunded immediately. Gondwana University should give clear instructions to all affiliated colleges in its area.

As the drought has reduced farm work, the employment of farm labourers and workers in rural areas is likely to be affected. Officials were therefore asked to provide as much work as possible under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) and the Viksit Bharat Rozgar and Ajeevika Guarantee Abhiyan (Gramin).

Officials from several departments were present at the meeting, including Additional Chief Executive Officer Kalpana Shirsagar, Lead District Bank Manager Shekhar Sonone, District Supply Officer Rahul Bahadurkar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Girish Dhaygude, Soil and Water Conservation Officer Nilima Mandpe, Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies Jaysing Thakur, Deputy Collector Shubham Dandekar, District Superintendent Agriculture Officer Shankar Totawar, Animal Husbandry Department Assistant Commissioner Dr Suresh Kumbhare, Gondwana University Registrar Dr Anil Hirekhan and SNDT Women's University Director Dr Rajesh Ingole.