Sharad Pawar urges government to provide farm loan waiver in flood-affected areas of Maharashtra

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday urged the Maharashtra government to waive loans of farmers who hail from flood-affected areas in the state. The NCP also said all public representatives of the party will donate one month’s salary for flood relief. [caption id=“attachment_5332041” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Reuters[/caption] Over two lakh people have been rescued and evacuated to safer places in Maharashtra, according to official estimates. The state is now grappling with a severe flood situation following incessant rains. A total of 2,03,168 people have been saved in the rescue operations till Thursday evening, Chief Minister’s Office said. A total of 43 teams from multiple agencies including NDRF, SDRF and Indian Navy teams have been deployed in the state. 125 boats have been deployed in flood-affected Sangli and Kolhapur districts. NDRF rescued over 3,500 people from Kolhapur. As many as 27 people have died due to floods in five districts of Pune division while more than two lakh people have been evacuated to safer places from three districts of Kolhapur, Sangli, and Satara.