Women farmers at Lohari Savanga ask CM Fadnavis for fair crop prices and protection from wild animals

On Diwali, Lohari Savanga village in Nagpur hosted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Responding to the villagers' warmth, he assured them that several stalled government development works in the village would be speeded up.

During the Chief Minister's stay in the village, the administration sanctioned irrigation wells for ten farmers. It was also announced that Rs 2.43 crore had been sanctioned for the village's storage tank and that work would begin soon.

Women farmers of the village said they were very happy that the Chief Minister had come to their village. They said the government should simply make farmers self-reliant and give them a guaranteed price for their produce. If that happened, they would need no other scheme of free benefits. According to the women, if their produce fetched a fair price and their farms were protected from wild animals, they would not want the Ladki Bahin scheme or advance assistance for drought either, and would move ahead on their own.

On the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Chief Minister said money had not arrived for many of its works. Sanctioned works that are more than 75 per cent complete will be given immediate priority so that water reaches those areas at once. In the next round, Jal Jeevan Mission works that are more than 50 per cent complete will be taken up.

The Chief Minister said wire fencing was necessary to protect fields from wild animals. Many farmers had raised the problem, he said, and concrete action would be taken. He also said that in villages across the state where water in ponds and other water sources had fallen, deepening and desilting work should begin. The government is bearing the cost of deepening and transport for this. He also promised the farmers that the government would support any gram panchayat that came forward to help farmers during this drought.

During the interaction, an elderly farmer said farming in Narkhed and Katol tehsils suffered heavy damage from wild animals, especially nilgai and wild boars. He said both animals breed in large numbers and do not die even when poisoned. The farmer made a direct demand that they be killed.

The village's woman sarpanch said leaders of two different parties operate in her village. Each points to different work, she said, and because of them no work gets done properly. She demanded that the two leaders be kept in check. The Chief Minister replied that he would build a bridge between the two leaders, meaning he would ask them to work together.

The Chief Minister also made an important announcement. In view of the water shortage in the state, the ban on borewell drilling will be lifted until December 15 for agricultural borewells only.