Dhanorkar seeks special economic package for Maharashtra as drought grips Chandrapur

Chandrapur MP Pratibha Dhanorkar has written to Union Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, drawing the Centre's attention to drought-like conditions across Maharashtra, including Chandrapur district. She has demanded that the Centre immediately announce a special economic package for the state.

According to the letter, irregular, scanty and unseasonal rain this year has created a severe drought situation in Chandrapur district and across Maharashtra. Dhanorkar wrote that farmers have been pushed into heavy financial distress. She said the erratic rain has badly damaged crops in Chandrapur district and most parts of the state, and that standing crops have dried up completely.

The MP also said in the letter that farmers are finding it difficult even to recover their input costs, and that farmers across Maharashtra are in distress. Along with the crop losses, a severe shortage of drinking water is now being felt in many places in Chandrapur district and the rest of Maharashtra. She said fodder for livestock has also become a serious problem. With farm labourers without work, a major employment crisis has arisen in villages. Dhanorkar wrote that under the shadow of the drought, the morale of village farmers, farm labourers and ordinary people has been completely broken.

According to Dhanorkar, the Centre should step in at once to bring farmers out of this emergency. The letter demands that the special economic package provide direct financial assistance to the affected farmers, a loan waiver, and subsidies on seeds and fertiliser. It also demands that compensation for crop losses be paid immediately to give farmers relief.

Dhanorkar also said in the letter that, to properly assess the true severity of the drought and the damage in Maharashtra, including Chandrapur district, the Centre should send a special central inspection team of senior officials and experts to the state. She said the Maharashtra farmer is a mainstay of the country, and requested that the Centre take a positive decision in this difficult time and deliver help as soon as possible.