Kunbi Mahasangh seeks immediate aid for drought-hit farmers, wants e-peek pahani condition scrapped

The Rashtriya Kunbi Mahasangh has sent a memorandum to the Maharashtra chief minister through the Chandrapur district collector, demanding that drought-hit farmers be given immediate financial assistance, with no one left out. The memorandum was submitted under the leadership of the Mahasangh's founder-president D. K. Arikar and district working president Raju Kude.

The Mahasangh said rainfall in Maharashtra this year was scanty and erratic, with long dry spells in between, causing heavy crop losses. Farmers have as a result been pushed into serious financial distress. The foremost demand in the memorandum is that the e-peek pahani condition be scrapped. It also asks that other troublesome paperwork requirements be done away with.

The memorandum said that several technical problems, including with location, crop up during e-peek pahani, and that elderly farmers in particular are suffering greatly because of it. The Mahasangh therefore wants the condition withdrawn immediately and a survey of the actual damage in the fields carried out through the revenue department, the agriculture department and the gram panchayat. Assistance should not be decided on online entries alone but on the basis of the loss on the ground, it said.

The memorandum also lists several other demands. Pending crop insurance claims should be settled immediately. Financial aid should be paid directly to farmers through 'Farmer ID', without the involvement of patwaris or other staff. Farm loans in drought-affected areas should be restructured and interest waived. Agricultural power connections should not be cut for arrears, and electricity bills should be waived. Financial assistance should be paid before Dussehra. A separate help desk should be set up at taluka and district level to resolve grievances.

The Mahasangh has issued a clear warning that if the government does not take a positive decision on these demands soon, the entire farming community and the Kunbi community will take to the streets. The memorandum also said the administration should take the right steps at once to give relief to drought-affected farmers, failing which an intense agitation will be launched.

Those present at the submission of the memorandum along with Mahasangh president D. K. Arikar and district working president Raju Kude included Ashish Yedange, Hanumant Nagpure, Atul Thakre, Vidyatai Thakre, Sudhir Korde, Vijay Thakre, Sanjay Phale and Adv. Prafulla Murkute, among other members of the delegation.